Serendipity

ser·en·dip·i·ty  

/ˌserənˈdipitē/

Noun The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way: "a fortunate stroke of serendipity" My life is lived slowly. It might be because I find myself moving at the pace of a newly walking one year old boy or a incredibly distracted 3 year old girl. It could be by chance but in my most honest moments I must confess that I really like to move slowly. I like to drink my coffee not in a travel mug. I like my kids being able to paint pictures in their jamies until 10:00 am. I like having a clear calendar and nothing expected of us. I don't sign my kids up for stuff, despite the lingering mom guilt, and instead plan trips to museums, lakes, camping, and the library. All on our own time. At our own pace. The other day I had just put my kids down for some quiet time when there was a knock at the door. I opened it to find a friend of ours who was dropping off some items her husband had purchased for us at my husbands request.We started chatting. Soon she was sitting in my living room pouring out her heart. Newly married, wanting a family, feeling torn about career and finance, we chatted for over an hour while my children napped and my lunch grew cold in the kitchen. I had nothing else planned and she needed a friend right then. A great friend of mine is about to imbark on a huge adventure. I couldn't be more thrilled for their family. There are a lot of detail she is feeling the pressure to figure out, one of which is to find someone to care for their dog and their house while they are away for 6 months. She told me this the same day another girlfriend told me that her and her husband would love to have a few months to figure out what missional direction God is looking to move their life but it is hard to do while working. Can one friend end up helping out the other? Maybe, this might be Gods nudging, I connected them none the less.  My life isn't always slow and it looks like the next few months are going to hold a lot of big changes for my family. I love that God will be in that too. I can live in faith that God can speak into my quiet moments and He will still be there when I am running around like a mad woman. He can still use the moments that don't get penciled onto my calendar, which usually are the most meaningful ones. The long phone conversations, the coffee dates and the unexpected dropping in of friends are Gods serendipitous hand in my life and I never want to shrug them off because they are inconvenient or unplanned. So this is my tribute to the boring, the slow, the monotonous, the unrushed and countercultural choice to slow down. I will let my kids be kids and that means being bored on occasion. I will be still when I could rush. I will let the baby nap in his bed, the children play long drawn out and elaborate games, I will drink my coffee and chat with friends and teach the neighbor kids to play dress up with sarongs. I will let God speak in the slow because when I move quickly I have a hard time listening.