Unsuspected!

A picture is worth a thousand words.

And obviously I was not the one taking these ones!

You are just walking along innocently, enjoying life on a trail from a waterfall in Yellowstone,

and all unsuspecting, you are threatened to be doused with a bottle of water

by your very own sweet, beautiful, wonderful daughter!

 It can be the ones closest to you who drench you in tears.

The unsuspected happens.

And there follows the cascade of tears. 

 Someday the mists of the Lower Falls in Yellowstone, 

the mists of the Low Times,

 will be all swept away, but in the present,

it is hard to see the rainbow in the mist--

even though it is there!

 Right now all you can see is the brink of the disaster,

the pouring torrent.

All you can hear is the thunderous roar.

 You turn around and see the unsuspecting water coming flowing around the corner of the canyon.

Does it dream what is coming next?

And you think about how Christ warned that just like a snare would come the day of Judgment on the face of the whole earth. 

Like the sudden surprise of the edge of the 300-plus-foot cliff under the water

will come the day of Christ.

 The thought of it brings a bit of pain to your heart,

because even if you feel that you are ready yourself, you have to think about those who aren't.

And you turn once again to look over the brink at the thundering waters 

pouring thousands of gallons a second

down into the canyon. 

And you think about the unsuspected, and the unexpecting, and the unexpected.

 

Is there a way to turn all this pain around?

You look at that water churning toward the precipice, and then flying straight into the air,

and turning white and whirling around

and capturing oxygen on its way down. 

You look at the mist and the cloud of water and remember that somewhere down there

is a rainbow.

Because God never leaves us without hope,

without joy, 

and without grace.

There is always the rainbow of His provision--both spiritual and physical!

 Two days after we came home, we heard that there might be a heavy freeze last night.

We had been watching the forecast.

We had been paying attention to the weather, because we had gardens and flowers.

Little did we know that this morning our tree and grass would look like this.

 But we did expect a frost or freeze, and we prepared for it.

We took pictures of the beautiful little garden that the girls had managed to cultivate around our mailbox

before covering it.

 We took one last look at our gorgeous flower garden in front of our porch.

 And as the cold, wet weather rolled in from the mountains and bluffs,

we covered all our flowers and raised beds with whatever we could find.

You wouldn't know that was a mailbox with flowers under it.

Carrie was determined to save her flowers for a few more weeks.

 Rose was determined to save her tomatoes and cucumbers and beets.

 And flowers and zucchini.

I was out with the others hunting for old quilts and comforters and tarps and roofing pieces piled up from what Jonathan had brought home to put in the trash,

to protect our plants from the imminent cold.

 And in the dangers and disasters of our day,

we can find shelter under something better than quilts and blankets and sheets of plastic.

We can find shelter under a Rock.

 Because God's faithfulness is like the great mountains.

 It reaches to the clouds above the Grand Tetons.

 And while waterfalls and tears often happen unexpectedly,

so do joys and mercies!

All unexpected, we are crowned with God's lovingkindness and tender mercies.

 Every evening and morning, His mercies are new.

His love is showered upon us in countless ways.

 His strength carries us, when we can't go on.

And the same daughter who threatened to douse you now begs to have the fun of carrying you.

Sometimes the very ones who caused you the most trouble

will bring you the most joy--if you will wait patiently for it.

It will be your children who will remind you to look on the bright side of things... 

 and who will lift your spirits when you are sagging.

Because it is your choice whether you focus on the unsuspected problems--

or the unexpected blessings,

the cascade of tears,

or the cascade of grace.

The tears or the rainbow, the black of night or the scarlet poppy in the sunlight.

Be surprised at the unexpected grace

of today.