I’ve been relatively quiet these last few days. After the busy wonder of the Christmas season with services and preparation my introverted soul needed quiet moments with books and blankets and holiday nog lattes {courtesy of my new Nespresso machine}. That’s right friends, my love of coffee has reached new heights thanks to a very thoughtful gift from my parents. All good things must end however and after a whole 24 hours of not really talking to anyone other than those who live in my house I was forced to leave my house to go to work. Such is the way of things when Sunday is coming. Afterwards I worked my way tentatively into some stores as our food supplies were running low and we were in need. That’s when I happened upon this mug.
The mug to you may seem relatively benign. Some of you might want to dig into how we can’t pick verses out of the text as that strips them of their meaning. Whatever side you lay on your both probably right but I have a necklace with this verse on it and have found myself constantly bumping into it lately. It reminds me over and over again that if I go with God, I will be ok. I will not fall when God is at the centre of what I do. So naturally when I saw one mug in a pile of mugs staring at me with this verse I picked it up. I held it in my hands and determined that for 5.99 that one lone “Psalm 46:5” mug would be mine and as a result of that choice I had my moment today.
What’s a moment? You know what a moment is. A moment of connection. A moment where you wonder at the wonder of God and it happened upon check out where I met an individual who was lovely but rather stressed. Truthfully she was probably overwhelmed. She told me she loved Christmas but found it all to be a bit much. She was glad it was done, was ready to release it to the next year. Then she picked up the mug.
It was really beautifully simple. She read the verse from the Psalm and I saw something wonderful unfold. She read the verse from the Psalm and then proclaimed to me “This is right you know. We worry about far too much that we don’t need to worry about”. This was the moment where I saw peace begin to work its way onto her face. A gift from God moment. We connected and chatted a bit more and it was a gift. A reminder of the power of Scripture. A reminder of what one interaction can bring. A reminder of God’s presence everywhere, even at the checkout.
Truthfully I didn’t want to leave the house today. I wanted to stay at home and read my book while my boys played at my feet. I wanted to stay cozy and comfy and content. But if I had I would have missed that moment. If I had I wouldn’t have been able to say thank you to God for that gift. If I had done what I wanted I wouldn’t have uncovered that wonder today and what a wonderful thing that was.
