Manna from . . .school?

I got up early the other morning to make chicken salad for myself and the kids to take in their lunch.  I was excited to have something so yummy for lunch!  I got everything ready for my lunch except for the crackers I was going to eat with my chicken salad.  As the clock ticked on, it quickly became time to go.  I grabbed my lunch and out the door I went. . . without my crackers.  I didn't realize I had forgotten my crackers until I got to school, of course.  Later that morning, I was sharing with my colleague about how excited I was to eat my chicken salad at lunch but had forgotten my crackers.  She didn't seem exactly interested in my story, but listened patiently.  I went about my day teaching when halfway through my Algebra class, my colleague came walking in with a bag of crackers.  She told me she had them in her bag but had forgotten her soup so I could have the crackers to go with my chicken salad.  I was SO EXCITED!!!   I immediately knew that God had provided those crackers for me.  In my excitement I felt a pang of sadness for my friend who had forgotten her soup, but my excitement far outweighed the pity I felt for her.  Not only were they crackers in the little baggie, but they were saltine crackers.  The very crackers I would have packed for myself at home.  What a teachable moment for my students and I.  My students were calling it manna from heaven.  They were right.  God did not have to provide for me in that very specific way for such a little thing, but He chose to do that for me.  When I think about being a parent, I love blessing my children in any way, big or small, that I can.  It gives me such delight and pleasure.  Our Heavenly Father is no different.  I know that God took delight and pleasure in giving me the blessing of manna from a bag that day.  Thank you, God.

Basketball Lessons

The other day my son made some "not so wise" choices.  It was around his birthday.  He and I had sat on the couch the night before flipping through an Eastbay catalog to pick out the basketball shoes that would make him play just like Michael Jordan.  He was so excited!  I was excited!  One of my first loves is cool tennis shoes (thanks Dad).  We talked about the shoes and how we would place the order on the Internet together the next night.  In between that glorious night of looking at hundreds of pairs of tennis shoes and the next evening when we were supposed to order the shoes, Kuyler failed to complete some school work and received a poor report.  Bad timing for him.  My husband explained to him the Scriptural that you must work in order to "eat"--or in this case, order tennis shoes.  He dropped the amount of money he could spend on the shoes to an amount that would not cover the awesome Michael Jordan shoes.  Kuyler cried.  I cried.  I was just as excited as Kuyler to order the shoes, but I knew my husband was right.  Once the consequences had been delivered, my husband looked at me and asked me if I understood the consequences as well--can't imagine why???  ;)  Kuyler was heart broken.  On the way to school the next morning, he cried.  He also asked for forgiveness and said he was sorry.  My forgiveness was readily available to him.  I called my husband to tell him about the conversation.  My husband told me that what was hard for him was that he was going to pick him up from school and buy him a new basketball and now that was having to be put on hold as well.  Kuyler didn't even know about the blessing he was missing out on with the basketball.  My mind immediately went to my life.  I wonder how many times God has blessings waiting for me that I am not even aware of and because of my sin, I miss out.  Abundant life.  I want to live my life in obedience so that the blessings God has for me can poured out on me.  Oh they may not be material--and probably most aren't--but the blessing of peace, joy, provision, answered prayer, fellowship--how long is the list of blessings that God has  waiting for us if we will just walk in obedience to Him.