The Little Things

I was hoping yesterday to meet one of my friends at the pool yesterday with our children so they could play in the pool while we talked (and played with them, of course). Due to several different things (like my emailing her at the last minute), my plans didn't happen. "Well," I thought, "I could use an extra morning at home anyway. I've got things I need to do."

When I woke up yesterday morning, it was gray and cloudy. Not a good day for the pool. Later on, it started to rain which is very unusual here in the summer. (There must be a tropical storm somewhere sending us this rain.) Now I thought, "What a nice coincidence." Then I realized that because I am a Christian, I know there are no such things as coincidences. Instead I thanked God.

Why does it surprise me that God cares about these little things? If it's going to rain (and we certainly need it), and I can't go to the pool anyway, why shouldn't He align things so that they occur at the same time? Don't I try to do little, nice things for my children?

When Sarah Beth asks for the pink plate at lunch, I usually have already gotten it down for her. I know that it makes her happy to use the pink plate and not the blue one. Why do I expect that my Father in heaven delights less in me than I do in her? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:11) Just as Sarah Beth does not have to ask for the pink plate because I already know which one she wants, I don't have to ask God for these little things because He already knows. And sometimes He arranges things for me that I don't even know to ask for, like rain happening on a day we are staying home anyway.

Isn't God amazing? Has He arranged something "small" like this for you lately? Something that you didn't even know to ask for?