By Surprise

“We seem to thinks that God speaks by seconding the ideas we’ve already adopted, but God nearly always catches us by surprise. If it’s God’s Spirit blowing, someone ends up having feathers ruffled in an unforeseen way. God tends to confound, astonish, and flabbergast. A Bethlehem stable, a Roman cross, an empty garden tomb. We might as well reconcile ourselves to the fact that God’s truth often turns up in ways we don’t expect.” – Sue Monk Kidd, When the Heart Waits

When reading books, I mark pages with flags when the words jump off the page and hug me like an old friend who knows my heart. Sue Monk Kidd is one of my favorite authors and I was drawn to pull When the Heart Waits off the shelf last night. As I turned each flagged page, the quote above called to me.

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” – Confucius

May each day be filled with surprises, confident that each unforeseen encounter is leading you where you need to go. And while you are on your journey, you are also an important part of others journeys as well, helping them, if you choose, to unfold into their best self as well. Be kind and generous.

Last week, I wrote my 500^th post on Cast Light. This journey that I tripped into, or rather was lead to, has been one of the most transforming and meaningful activities for me in many years. Each one of us is called beyond busily making a living to something much more. Whatever is whispering to you softly, get quiet enough to get clarity and follow it. There are so many reminders of life’s brevity. Start today, one new and simple step at a time.