Surrendering Every Moment

God does great things with surrendered people. And surrender happens every day in one thousand small moments. ~Jennie Allen, "Restless"

Those words stuck in my mind like velcro. I felt like one of those small bouncy balls, here I go, there I go. Bounce, bounce, bounce. By Thursday, frustration was getting the best of me. Then I remembered Jennie's quote and I surrendered. I surrendered via pen to page in my journal, giving God every past moment of three days focused on interruptions and shortfalls. 

The simple movement of faith shifted me in the direction of gratitude. What were the positives of my week thus far? 

*my workout with Kate on Monday * last meeting completing six weeks of Bible study as a teacher and host *praying while doing stretching exercises *blogging linkup with COMPEL *encouraging a friend *writing even when I didn't reach my goal *creating a Facebook group for my study circle * reading Lynn Austin's "Keeper of the Covenant," which is worthy of a post in itself *telephone chat with my oldest granddaughter, always a joy!

The following three days presented their own difficulties. Hubby and I needed to open our camper because our next two weekends already bore heavy schedules. This meant traveling three hours one way, lots of packing, cleaning, lugging etc. An allergic food reaction of some sort slammed my body. This together with my allergy problems in our camper made every task feel like slogging through thick mud. 

In the midst of my swampy thoughts and physical predicament, my littlest granddaughter came to visit.  We decided to take a walk while Grampy washed the camper, keeping her little fingers off the hose. Lily's focused delight  captured my full attention, as she picked handfuls of tiny flowers to put in her wagon. 

Our lives are made up of thousands of moments each day, waiting to be fully experienced with all of our senses.

As a young mother, I lost memories in the making to busyness and perfectionism, things that didn't matter. Spring and fall cleaning in themselves took weeks to complete.Women prided themselves in the completion of endless tasks during these seasons. Every wall must be washed down, floors spit-shined, each piece of furniture perfectly polished, curtains sparkling white. Who even does this anymore? 

I surrender those thousands of moments over and over to God, begging his help to smell, taste, touch, hear and see his presence in my present life.

Slowly, I bend over, grabbing a handful of flowers spread before my feet rather than trampling them without a glance as I steamroll through preconceived plans and fading competitions.

My holy pause makes space for the greatness of God.