Reflection Example

A reflection is less about explaining truth than noticing it.

We are drawn to pieces that begin in ordinary life and gently awaken readers to God's presence through careful observation, thoughtful storytelling, and quiet wonder.

Sit

“Take them outside, please.”

My wife was busy filling out papers for the mortgage company.

“I’m doing this so we don’t have to pay $3,000 dollars.”

During my hospitalization and outpatient recovery earlier in the year, we applied for help — but paperwork.

Turns out, two of them were already outside on the front porch with a blanket over their heads cherishing their bowl of water beads. But I didn’t understand what they were doing with them under there.

I decided to waltz out in the yard. Ruth was somewhere. That would complete the trifecta of daughters.

I felt the Lord, and my wife’s uneasy attitude, nudge me to start picking up things left outside. I left a water bottle on the pick-nick table close to where I spread 14 cubic yards of topsoil over a new septic tank system. It was left undone because the sun was already getting hot enough to wither any new grass seed — making it a project that would sit dormant for a couple of months.

Another item under the pick-nick table was a pair of pink and dirty tennis shoes that Faith had outgrown.

I slowly walked toward the house, but only a couple steps, and felt the Lord tell me to turn around.

“Sit”, I could feel him say.

I looked up through the large pin oak toward the warm sunlight. It was a nice change from the 8-hour office workday. Tall grass peered through the mulch. It was a remnant of our failed attempt to have a lawn. We decided mulch was better.

It wasn’t quiet, but it felt like it.

I could still hear the cars rushing by on highway 92. Some cicadas had broken ground and were up in the trees chirping away — to me, a beautiful melody. Birds I couldn’t recognize were chirping. Then, a hawk let out a call.

I looked, and my girls were still under the blanket on the front porch — even in this humidity. It did feel a little cooler where I was with the gentle breeze.

“Thank you, Lord.”

Then, Faith appeared.

“Dad! When are you going to make dinner?!”

“On my way!”