The other day, in the middle of a very ordinary day, I was struck with how God provides for us way ahead of time before we even know we’re going to need something. Oh yes, we all KNOW that, but do we really?

Here’s how it happened. It started as a non-typical morning. I woke up cheerful! I was ready for this day. Full of ideas on fun things we were going to do. That wonderful cheerful energetic feeling lasted until the children started to wake up. Some of them didn’t share my morning cheer. I tried to get them on my bandwagon, but one thing after another happened to dampen my spirits.

Breakfast got served. Kids got dressed for the day.
Then we started our BibleTelling lesson. That went ok, eventually. We weren’t able to do our hymn study since our book was missing, so we skipped to choosing poems for everyone to recite next month at our annual “Arts Alive” program.
By that point I could tell that I was almost at the end of my rope, but I kept trying. I really did try! After hurdling one obstacle after another, I realized that the end of my rope had just slipped through my fingers. I calmly closed the poetry book in my lap, and looked at the children.
“OK. That’s it. You guys do whatever you want, except for injuring one another. I’m going upstairs.”

They didn’t know what to think! I took the baby and retreated to my room where a bag of peanut M&M’s waited to comfort me. The baby crawled around on my bed while I munched on M’s and fiddled with my computer.

Finally, I realized that one thing I’d really enjoy doing for my “quiet time” was going outside to plant the snow peas I had stuck into my pocket earlier that morning. So I dressed the baby in some overalls and we headed out. I fully expected the children to follow me, but they were totally engrossed in their movie or video games or whatever it was they were doing.

The weather was beautiful. The sunshine was warm and a breeze was dancing about. I grabbed the shovel and started turning the soil in my garden.

Outside work can be so therapeutic! Once the garden was turned, I raked it, then turned the soil again and raked it again. Then I opened my envelope of snow peas that had a date of “2000″ on it, and sprinkled them liberally all over the garden spot. No neat rows here! I grabbed the shovel and again gently turned the soil over to bury most of the seeds. Then I crammed the support cages all over and stepped back to admire my work. How rewarding!

But I still had pent up energy. What to do next? Then my eye caught the patch of garden that we were attempting to return back to lawn. Last summer it had gone wild and small trees had grown in there before we finally chopped them off. Small stumps remained, just waiting to trip up unsuspecting folks. So I turned my shovel to the task of uprooting those stumps.

One after the other I wrestled the stumps. Jamming the shovel in. Stomping on the back of the shovel. Leaning into it. Pushing. Pulling. Fighting. Sweating.

As I worked, I prayed. What a wonderful time to communicate with my loving Heavenly Father! I mulled over my situation, my frustration, and yes, even the good things in my life. Funny how exercise is so therapeutic. And then I heard myself say, “…..and thank you for these stumps!” Thank you for the STUMPS??? Oh, yes indeed. My Heavenly Father had put those stumps there just for me. He knew that I would have a day where I would need to go attack stumps, so he put them there and saved them for me.

When my energy was finally spent, there was a pile of uprooted stumps, and one lone victorious stump that I’ll save for another day.

I stood back and surveyed the area. The terrain was uneven. Piles of dirt sat next to small pits in the ground. I could feel sweat, and my jeans were sticking to me. I needed a bath now. But I felt better. I could go back in and face the day.

The whole time I was working, the baby sat in the sunshine and watched me. He didn’t move much at all. He finally went and ate some dirt from the pea bed. And he stood up holding on to the tomato cages. He tried to step in the garden. (Once he learns to walk, he’ll be much more of a force to reckon with.)

As I was running my bath water, my hands were tingling, and I was reminded of the work I had done.

When is the last time you worked hard, really hard? When’s the last time you fought something bigger than you? When’s the last time you exerted all of your energy to tackle a problem?
For me, it was last Monday.