WHERE DOES GOD SHOW UP IN YOUR LIFE?

Where does God show up in your life?

For me, regularly, it’s either with my daughter, or at work.

So often, I will say something to correct my daughter, or to help her understand something better, and seconds later, I’ll be standing alone when a eureka moment hits me smack in the face. Yikes!!! Tom, did you really just say that? Then, I think about what I said, and realized that what I said is exactly what I needed to hear from God at the time.

Freaky!! One time, I was telling my daughter about human relations, and how handling them would be the most difficult thing she would ever face. I mentioned something about her needing to learn that everyone has similar thoughts, and emotions, and that in many situations, what would anger or hurt her would be exactly the thing that would anger or hurt someone else. EUREKA!!

I hadn’t been dealing with human relations very well at the time, and the words I said echoed inside of my head for a few seconds, until I just walked away, in utter amazement at how God had used something I was trying to teach my daughter as a lesson for me. Really, how DOES He do that?!

With work, it’s usually another human relations lesson. Learning how to love my neighbor as myself could have been just an intellectual exercise, you know, something I know in my head that never once gets transferred to the real world? But apparently, God would have me actually use what He teaches me, and most often, use it with those who work with me. Amazing!! What a novel idea, to use what I know!

Hanging Chad is what I call him. That’s not really his name, but I like the name I’ve given him. For all you too young or too far away to remember the significance of the hanging chads, check into the US presidential elections of 2000.

Hanging Chad is a slacker, but I love him. He’s young, around twenty-four, I think. Don’t get me wrong, when he wants to work, he’s very good at what he does, and very fast. It’s just that he’s not all that motivated. I admit there are times I am tempted to say something snide and cutting, in hopes that I will spur him on to ambition. But always, just before I am about to say something, there is this little voice in my head that says, “Tom, make sure it’s something that you would like to hear, something that won’t cause him anguish.”

But,……But,….God !!! Sometimes people NEED to be kicked in the but! Nevertheless, my thoughts have already ruined the choice morsel I was going to feed Hanging Chad, and so I am usually left with something like, “Hey, Hanging Chad, How long do you think before I get you started on……..”

By saying it this way, I am not abusing Hanging Chad verbally, yet he often realizes that I have something important for him to do that I would like him to start on as soon as possible. Had I lifted my voice spewing chunks, the mess would have been all over Hanging Chad, and nothing but resentment and bitterness would develop. Thank You God, for helping me to avoid another human relations disaster.

God shows up in so very many places in my life, but if I had to write about all of them, I’d never stop writing.

Where does God show up in your life?