Recently I heard someone asking why we always say, “That’s life,” when inconvenient, unhappy things happen. The tire goes flat on the way to the airport. “That’s just life, ” we gripe. The little boy falls and needs stitches on the morning of a wedding we wanted to attend. “That’s life.” The clothes line loses its grip on the pole when it is loaded with wet towels, and we sigh as we pick them up to wash them again, “Oh, well, that’s life.”
And it is life. Life is just strewn with nasties and less-than-happies. But life is also strewn with so very much goodness, so much that I don’t deserve or even expect. I took the challenge to concentrate on the small, yet extravagant providences that come my way. Being somewhat like my little boy, I made a list.
That’s Life
- finding a piece of Dove chocolate under the bed when I am looking for a shoe gone AWOL
- receiving a note of such kindly encouragement in the mail that it brings quick tears to the eyes
- discovering that my little boy can, indeed, bake bread, just like he insisted he could
- finding matching outfits at the thrift store… clothes I really like, in the appropriate sizes
- giving birth to a child who actually loves vegetables in any form
- a tot who decided to potty train herself
- sticking my hand into a pocket and pulling out a fifty dollar bill that I was missing for months
- someone noticing and picking up a button on the church parking lot… the really special button that fell off the baby’s coat, and I thought I would have to replace all of them because I couldn’t match it
- a tray of cookies, put into our vehicle at church by Anonymous
- having a good hair day
- losing my purse in a parking lot, without realizing it until hours later… asking the cart pusher, and sure enough, the honest soul had picked it up for me
- the kind lady at the grocery store, the one with understanding eyes, who tells me that I have lovely children despite the fact that I am feeling a little overextended at the moment
- the spill that was only water
- the fender bender where no one was hurt
- facetime with the absent Beloved One
That’s life, I suppose, when the glass is half full and there is a quietness in my heart that recognizes sheer grace. That’s life when I stop living as though I am entitled to all that is easy and soft. That’s life when I start to see God’s hand in all around. I say, let’s change how we use that phrase!
wocket in my pocket 
Or when the 3 yr old found the stray sock that the 8 month old had lost (my favorite stripy pair) in the walmart parking lot. This post was great!