Posts Tagged: feeding the turtles and fish

GOD AND SMALL BOYS WILL PROVIDE

 “Do you think God is just going to give us buckets of money?”

The above question was posed to me by frugal, hard-working, worried wife.

My wife and I were talking about her admittedly very stressful job, and when she should retire.  Retirement is coming soon, but not nearly soon enough.  I’m afraid that the decision is nearly as stressful as the job.  (No, it probably isn’t!  But it is stressful.)

I tend to say that I think God will take care of us, no matter what.

Note carefully how I expressed my “sort-of” faith in the preceding sentence: I tend to say that I think God will take care of us, no matter what.  Most of the time, I struggle to trust God, but I talk a good game.

We decided to go to the Cincinnati Nature Center.  We have a membership there.  Affordable fun, if not cheap thrills.  I’m not sure we were prepared to meet God there, but apparently God was prepared to meet us.

As we prepared to walk down to the lake, we passed a dispenser of fish-and-turtle-food pellets.  My wife asked if we should buy some.  “No,” I said, rather grumpily, “it costs a quarter.”

It was a hot, humid Saturday afternoon, and there weren’t a lot of people there.  However, as we walked on the boardwalk around the lake, there was a lady and a little boy—about four years old, I would guess.  The little boy had a brown paper bag.  The little guy reached into the bag, came over to us, and handed my wife and I one fish-and-turtle-food pellet a piece.

My wife and I were blown away by the little guy’s generosity and thoughtfulness.  A few minutes later, he gave us some more pellets.  This time, we each had about five pellets to throw in the water for the fish and turtles!

Angels come in all shapes and sizes.  A four-year-old boy was a messenger of God to my wife and me today.  There were no buckets of money from on high, but a few graciously given food pellets helped us to turn our attitudes around, at least for a little while.

I hope that you (and I) will be on the lookout for God’s messengers today.  They come bearing good gifts from the Father of lights.

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