Thank God for Laundromats

As I type this my very first pumpkin pie is baking in the oven.  I’m abnormally excited about this new cooking venture. As we gather at my parent’s table tomorrow, I am bringing pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies and the infamous green bean casserole.  Usually we put my mother through heck as she prepares everything but this year my sister and I have finally stepped up to the plate and are bringing a few dishes to help out.  Oddly enough, I have developed an affinity this past year to cooking.  Maybe I’m growing up, maybe I’m so shallow that when praised for a couple of cooking successes it has gone to my head.  Nevertheless, I’m a Martha or Rachel Ray in the making. (I hope. . . )

I’m happy and content tonight.  That doesn’t sound like much but trust me . . it is significant and it is an indication of the vacation that I have had thus far.  It has been wonderful to slow down, to rest, to pray, to move at a slower pace, to get life in order.  I’m sensing some clarity to some decisions that I’ve been pondering awhile and that brings me relief.  I spent most of the day with my parents as we traveled to Iberia to get some furniture from my grandparent’s home.  I have a beautiful 1940s set in my bedroom tonight.  It is the first time I’ve ever had a headboard and footboard on a bed and I’m so excited for easy nighttime reading.  The pieces look wonderful and they have a beautiful history.  They join a dresser that was my dad’s growing up so I feel my bedroom is blessed with a great furniture heritage.

Tonight I was beginning laundry and getting ready to bake up a storm when my neglect caught up with me.  I’ve been meaning to call Roto Rooter for a while for semi-annual pipe cleaning that this old home requires.  However, I never got to it.  So tonight my drain in the basement backed up while I was on my first load. Nothing was ruined.  Fortunately, I went down about the time it was really gushing and was able to move things out of the way.  So, wanting to get laundry done tonight, I packed my wet load and my dirty load and went the laundromat that I use to frequent when I had my first apartment.  I took a book that I’ve been wanting to read.  I like the laundromat. It is a way of forcing me to slow down and be and I appreciate anything that makes me do that.  So my time there was beautiful and relaxing and refreshing.  It was not so good for my jeep because while I was doing laundry, a guy backed into my jeep – damaging my bumper and his back light.  It is not horrible and the guy felt bad.  I have his information, told him to not worry, enjoy his holiday and we’d talk after Thanksgiving.  It could have been much worse.  No one was hurt; both vehicles are driveable; my laundry is done . . . all is good. 🙂

God is so good. I cannot imagine my life without God.  The freedom, the care, the hope that God gives me.  I’m continually in awe at how amazing and real God is and how tangible God is.  Even as big and mysterious and unfathomable as God is, He still makes Himself known in exactly the way that I need him to make himself known.  That simply leaves me speechless . . . and overwhelmingly grateful.

I wish for each of you a Thanksgiving full of blessings that only God can take credit for because they are beyond human definition or expectation and in this way, you will receive the biggest blessing of all and that is undeniable holy moments with your Creator.