** I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE VIDEO WILL IMBED ITSELF IN THIS BLOG, BUT PLEASE WATCH IT AFTER YOU READ THE BLOG **
(The video is poor b/c it's a dark room, but the audio is the point, anyway)

Blessings Amid the Grumblings
Friday, November 20, 2009

Exodus 15:24: "SO THE PEOPLE GRUMBLED against Moses, saying, 'What are we to drink?' "

Let the grumbling begin, I laughed as I underlined "So the people grumbled" this morning, knowing that for the next week, at least, I will be reading yet again about the stiff-necked, grumbling Israelites as they wandered thru the dessert on their way to the "Land of Milk & Honey." (The irony of that name for Canaan is not lost on this dieter - I so wish it was the "Land of 8 Glasses of Water & Splenda" - but that's an entirely nother blog!) I was shaking my head in disbelief that 3 days earlier, God had parted the Red Sea (via Moses), & a few days before that, Moses led these folks out of slavery from Egypt, w/ God leading the way as a cloud by day & a pillar of fire by night.

"Hey, what about that Red Sea thing?" I wrote in my journal this morning. "Don't you think that the God who did THAT will be able to supply your every need??" Oh, how HTT (Holier than thou) I can be during my morning devos.

Now I haven't ever heard the audible voice of God, & while I yearn to, I am learning to listen to Him in other ways. I didn't need to hear His voice this morning as I felt my mocking finger point away the Israelites & turn to point directly at myself, like I do when I play "Where's Hana / Where's Granny?" with Hana.

Gulp.

"How often," my journaling continued, "do I have a Red Sea experience, usually inspired by a Sunday morning sermon (or a conviction-filled devo, I add as I write this blog), & then think God isn't working in my life? How often am I totally inspired & then forget everything I just heard & felt & go on w/ my undevoted life & do nothing about it?"

How often, indeed? Not three days later... how about three HOURS later??

It was a bit of a rough morning w/ Hana. Things were a little hard, apparently, at her house, getting out the door in time to take Daniel to school, & I'm sure Hana got caught up in the emotions & stress of the morning. Turns out she didn't have any b'fast, either. She just wasn't a happy little girl, & I wasn't a happy Granny. Hana didn't eat the b'fast that I scrambled to prepared for her, & kept rubbing her eyes, so I decided to try to put her down for a while.

And in the midst of my grumblings about everything that was happening this morning; after enduring an unhappy Hana (& when Hana isn't happy, NOBODY's happy!); after trying unsuccessfully to get her to eat; after hearing her say "No" to everything (!); and while I was LITERALLY grumbling about it w/ my teammates from one of my SparkPeople teams, I hear Hana from her room. "What do I have to do to get this girl to sleep?" I GRUMBLED. And then I listened a little more, & grabbed my camera to record this video.

(You can play the video now...) :-)

For the 1st time, I was hearing my grand-girl sing. In the middle of a stressful, grumbling morning, came the voice of my little grand-angel, trying to sing herself to sleep as God used her to gently remind her Granny of the prayer I prayed this morning, asking forgiveness for the arrogance of my own hypocrisy when I am no better than the Israelites I was shaking my head at.

While focusing on all this other stuff that I was grumbling about, I lost focus of the truly important thing, that precious (albeit sometimes loud) little girl, laying on the crib mattress on the floor of the kids' room in my house - a room I had dedicated to their use. My former pastor used to say, "Keep the main thing the main thing," & this morning, I had forgotten the main thing. Several main things, actually.

That singing little girl is in my house! My house! A house she was once terrified of; with a Granny she was once horrified of. I get to hear her singing. Me! My ears. What a gift that is.

And the God who can part the Red Sea & inspire & convict me in my morning devotionals can provide for my every need, including patience & the ability to get thru a hard morning w/ a heart full of love for a little girl & the God who made her in His image.

Here's my Little Pink Riding Hood on our way to go back to school to go home w/ Daniel & Mommy & Daddy.