Up, Up and Away

As I was walking out of the grocery store this week, the wind was blowing so hard I thought it might just take me away, but instead, it took a little girl’s balloon. This little toddler was walking out of the grocery store with a little pumpkin balloon tied onto the end of a white stick. She was happily skipping across the parking lot when suddenly, the gust of wind became her robber and took her little pumpkin balloon up in the air with it. She suddenly burst into tears as the mom was trying to grab it, but it was too far gone. I put my groceries away, we got in the car, and I heard that still small voice, “go find it.” I thought, how ridiculous, that little balloon must be long gone by now, but I just had to look. I drove around the building and saw nothing, as I kept driving my mind was thinking, this is seriously crazy!! When we got to the back of the store, I spotted it. Blowing along the fence past the building was that little orange pumpkin balloon. I couldn’t believe it! I drove my car as far as it would go, told my boys to stay put, and I began chasing it along the fence. To my amazement, I caught it, but now what? I had no idea what car the mom was driving, and by that point they could be long gone. There was that voice again, “keep looking.” When I got back to the front of the store, my eyes were drawn to a black SUV and decided that must be them, truly having no idea if it was. I got in the lane next to them, but they were too far Infront of me to tell who it was. I had a rush of excitement, “boys!” I said, “we must get this balloon back to that little girl.” Oliver said, “well if you don’t find her, can we have it?” Their question was valid in the fact that finding this mom and her daughter was like finding a needle in a haystack. Four stop lights later, my car was finally lined up with this black SUV, I looked over and sure enough there was that mama and her two daughters. I rolled down the window, stuck the balloon out and said, “look what we found!” The mom unrolled her window and yells, “NO WAY!” I ran out of the car, handed the balloon to the happy little girl, and drove away.

As we near Thanksgiving, I thought about the way the Lord showed that little girl His love. The fact that within minutes of everything having to line up perfectly for this girl to have her balloon back, it did. Why? I believe that God is a God of big things and small things, and that day, He wanted to show her that He does see her and love her through a small thing. This week as we ponder thankfulness and finding attitudes of gratitude, I believe this would be a season to remember the small things. I was reminded that day that we are important to God, that His care for us goes much deeper than we can comprehend. Even if we do not yet see Him answering our prayers on the big things, our hope is always renewed in the small things, such as a floated off balloon. 

This week, I battled my thoughts on what I am doing. I felt that my dreams and ideas can seem too far out there or that I am going against a current that sometimes wants to pull me back into a worldly reality and drown my God given dreams. In the battle, I received a text from a dear friend who sent me a worship song and said, she was just thinking of me, and this song reminded her of me. The next day I had a message from a person I have never met before, but she reads my blogs and has been a great encourager. She felt the Lord wanted to remind me that He goes before me and has it all covered. Even though these were small messages, the impact of the words was great. God is in the small things, He is in the big things and no matter what life is looking like around us, there is ALWAYS something we can find to be thankful for. May your hope be renewed this week as we thank God for the small things and remember that even little pumpkin balloons are important to Him if they are important to us. 

Oh give thanks to the LORD: call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!

1 Chronicles 16:8