>As usual I had left myself little time to spare. My eyes impatiently scanned the shelf of shoes in our garage while my mind ticked away the seconds before I needed to be at my babysitting job. Not seeing my sneakers, I hastily settled settled on a pair of white flats still sitting in their Payless box. Snatching them from a bed of tissue paper, I threw the shoes into the car, hefted my bag stuffed with games, picture books, and coloring pages over the seat, and slammed the door behind me. As soon as I was in, I checked the car clock. Three minutes to make it down the hill on time. Perfect.

On the short trip down, I scarcely had time to catch my breath, let alone question the wisdom of my shoe choice. Anyway, the weather was an early spring cool, I carried with me a plethora of inside kind of activities, and there was no reason whatsoever to worry about dirtying my new white flats.

It seems I still haven’t learned the art of predicting.

No sooner did the door swing open than I was met by three eager little faces and a joyous trio: “Snowball has kittens! Let’s go see them, can we please?”

Before I had time to formulate a shoe-saving solution, I was being led by both hands across the driveway and into a large field. My feet were plunged into tall grasses and ground still soft from a recent rain.

“Wait just a minute,” I stopped in my tracks and tried to maintain a firm countenance in the face of three sets of adorable, excited eyes. “Where are these kittens anyway?”

“In the woods, over there.” Emily pointed to a cluster of trees several hundred feet of soggy muddy ground. “Come on!”

I looked down. A wet blade of grass had stuck to the toe of one of my shoes. I looked back up, sighed, and proceeded to trudge on. But Jessica and Mary didn’t follow. In my moment’s hesitation, they had made a discovery that left their fascination for kitties far behind.

“Oh look!” Jessica cried in rapture, “Just look at them all? Aren’t they beautiful?” Her eyes were fixed with awe on an enormous patch of dandelions in the center of the field. Mary didn’t say anything, but dove into the yellow mass. Soon all three girls were running delightedly through, in, and around the dandelions, picking them as fast as they little hands could.

I stood on the fringe, looking on with wonder. “What are you all doing?”

“Making dandelion stew!” Came the answer in a tone that implies, what else do you do with dandelions?

Dandelion stew. The words brought back such memories of carefree happy days – when the play was the thing and imagination made a thousand wondrous worlds. When dandelions weren’t weeds but beautiful props in a setting of dreams. A smile gradually crept across my face as I watched the a trio of bright-eyed wispy blonde haired children finding joy in such a simple ordinary part of life.

Then with a laugh thrown to the wind, I stepped inside the yellow circle. The rest of the afternoon was pure pleasure as I helped fill bucket after bucket with dandelion heads, make dandelion paste with stones, and stir a delicious mixture of weed, mud, water, and stone. Four girls using the simplest of materials to make the time of their lives.

As for my new white shoes? By the time I got home, it was hard to imagine they had ever been any color but a varigated brown flecked with specks of yellow. But I really truly didn’t care anymore. Everytime I slip my feet into those shoes, I smile remembering a day when I learned a precious lesson.

“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” (Mark 10:15)

I think those of us who have been Christians for a long time are in danger of becoming complacent. We can grow so accustomed to life, so absorbed with petty concerns and fears, that we fail to see the showers of blessings raining down all around us. If we are not careful, we can lose the sense of awe and joy that accompanied our salvation.

But just because we are not looking for them doesn’t mean the blessings aren’t there. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentatiosns 2:22,23). The Lord’s mercies be found in the simplest of moments:

Frendship begun, renewed, or restored.

A kind word from a stranger.

Dinner with the family.

A sermon.

Strength for a difficult day.

A note of encouragement.

Life is not the mundane drudgery we sometimes believe it to be. It is full of opportunities to worship and praise the great God we serve, “to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery” (Colossians 2:2) “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20).

In these moments, we the redeemed have the greatest blessing of all: the knowledge that our lives are orchestrated by the Master Composer who delights in giving good gifts to His children. Not because we have earned them but because He loves us.

Isn’t it amazing? We are loved! Abudantly, completely, in ways we can’t comprehend with our human minds. And Jesus, who won our hearts, is jealous for our affections, that we might
“know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). The Lover of our souls desirous us to be enraptured with Him and to delight in His gifts to us.

As a Bride romanced by her Groom.

As a child rejoicing in the good gifts of her Father.

“Let all the earth fear the Lord ; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!” (Psalm 33:8) A life that is enraptured with the goodness of God takes on new meaning. Even dandelion stew becomes a foretaste of glory.