the simple beautiful

I don’t know if the phrase “the simple beautiful” makes any sense.

But I’d like it to.

This recent move of ours, the recent job change, all of it – it’s been a risk.

A risk we’ve willingly chosen.

A risk we feel is worth the . . . well . . . worth the risk.

And we have been awed, amazed, overwhelmed and humbled at the various ways God has allowed our needs to be met during this season of our lives.

Watching the way God provides. That’s the simple beautiful.

And it’s been abundant.

The labors of love from our friends who painted and cleaned our home before we moved in.

The stranger turned reading specialist turned miracle worker.

And this past month – I feel as if we have been showered with so much genuine abundance in the midst of so much perceived lack.

I have been trying to write a post about all this goodness for a week or more but it’s just hard to get it all out without waxing cheesy and cliche.

Despite the cold house our hearts have been warm, warm, warm.  (Please see previous comment about cheesy cliches.)

I could go on (and on) about each one of these situations, but I think I’ll just make a list.

So you can see them stack up here like all the love that they represent.

Our List of Love.  (Here goes.)

Riley’s Algebra teacher e-mailed me, reminded me of our current bill.  I was surprised, thinking I had paid the entire bill at the beginning of the school year.  Apparently I had misunderstood and we were to pay $100 per semester, not $100 per year.  (I had thought it was a crazy good deal.)  The class and bill due were on Tuesday.  It was Monday.  And we did not have the $100.  After checking the mail there’s a letter from a dear dear friend who has serious financial concerns of her own.  A friend who is in no position to share the wealth currently.  And out of the envelope slips a one hundred dollar bill.  From her.  To us.  The simple beautiful.

In our old house the kids all slept in loft beds.  After the move as we are assembling the bunk beds we had in storage, we notice a clear deficit of mattresses.  2 p.m. – I post a facebook status asking if anyone knows of a good low-cost mattress store in our town.  A couple of comments and suggestions.  2:05 p.m.  A good friend of our family’s responds, “We have a single mattress you can have.”  I am so thankful.  2:10 p.m. same friend replies, “Are you home right now?”  3:00 p.m.  He’s pulling up in our driveway with a mattress in his minivan.  The simple beautiful.

London needs new shoes.  Her only fitting pair of shoes are the five fingers she received for her birthday last July.  It’s time to purchase some shoes.  We had spied a pair of boots she loved before Christmas (and that child is notoriously choosy about attire).  They had been priced at $40.  Prior to the shoe store I stop by a local children’s consignment store where I had sold a few of the kids’ outgrown clothing. My clothes sold for a total of $25.  I pocket the check.  Next stop – the shoe store.  We find the boots and they are currently on sale.  The new price?  $24.99.  The simple beautiful.

I joke too frequently about the cold weather inside our own home.  A sweet blog reader who happens to be married to a former English student of mine sends me an e-mail.  Her mom makes rice warmer bags and she has already made one for every member of our family!  In different adorable patterns!  And I don’t even know her mom!  And her mom doesn’t even know me!  The simple beautiful.

Out of the complete blue I get another e-mail from a precious reader.  (And I don’t toss that word “precious” around lightly.)  There’s a long-ago back story of connection between us – a tiny thread that can be pulled through and stand out vividly.  Her mom taught me science in high school.  Her mom taught my brother science in high school.  (She was probably eight then.  The reader, not her mom.)  And then the years passed.  (A lot of years.)  And she’s sending me an e-mail.  And her family wants to bless our family.  And they do – oh, they do.  Through two spectacular little pieces of plastic.  A generous gift card to Hobby Lobby (how glorious is that?) and an amazing gift card to the Melting Pot, a restaurant I have long desired to try but have yet to step foot inside.  Incredible.  The simple beautiful.

How do you handle this kind of love?  

What’s a girl to do?

I say “thank you” and I say it often and I mean it, mean it, mean it!

But somehow it still sounds hollow.

Not enough.  

If I could see these people, if I could hug them – would that be enough?

(Probably not, I’m a pretty poor hugger.)

All my words fall into that heap of cheesy and cliche but this kind of unexpected love and generosity and thoughtfulness leave me there somehow.

I guess, what I do, right now, is remember to every thing there is a season.

As this seems to be my season to accept, I trust I will have a season to give as well.  

And I will be inspired by these warm-hearted acts and I will share with my children the awe and wonder of the simple beautiful.

Amen.