Glimpses

I really, really, really needed to write today. Just write. Journal. Make a list. Write a note to someone. Type an e-mail. Anything. It's just one of those days for me. So brace yourself. The length of this blog entry could be daunting. Or not. I just don't know yet.

Remember how I wrote about broken stuff? OK, how could you forget? Was the list not long enough for you? Well, just as I sat down to post a blog entry, I saw Brian trying to close the bottom drawer of our custom-made, pine ready-to-assemble pressboard armoire. It's broken. Much like the silverware drawer in the kitchen and the spice drawer in the kitchen. And I am the secret-keeper. My blog entry was slightly delayed by me demonstrating the secret to Brian--pull out all the way, then lift and throw in with one smooth motion. Drawer snugly closed.

OK, here we go.

The washer stopping agitating today. As luck would have it, I figured it out on the first load....right after I had filled the entire washer with water by hand. Brian arrived home after a bike ride, most likely desperately hoping I didn't have a broken appliance or a problem or a large spider trapped and waiting for the executioner (aka Brian). Poor guy. He really needed a day off, but he was greeted with an agitating wife and a non-agitating washer. So, patiently he started investigating. This is how it went:

1. He looked in the washer.

2. He screwed on a water hose.

3. He turned the washer on.

4. It filled and agitated and spun and rinsed and filled and spun again.

So the washer started agitating again today, shortly after I did.

I am finding this insane place once again, where the sublime and the so-not-sublime crash together.

Saturday, right after I lost my sanctification, I started doing catch-up work for our small group. I watched a teaching session about really seeing Jesus Christ. Sitting there just gripped with the desire to see him more clearly and then simultaneously smacked with a replay of my laundry room meltdown was wild. Talk about the sublime and not-so-sublime meeting in a crazy wave of emotion. God gave me a glimpse right then, a flash of his laughter and nearness and altogether holiness. It made my heart beat faster. It made me laugh. And it made me long to know Jesus more.

Then yesterday, I had to attend the Rockies Faith Day event. Yes, I intended to say "had to". For so many deeply whiny reasons, I never really want to go. I was perhaps overly vocal to perhaps more than one person about my feelings. Perhaps. Then God gave me a glimpse--another one, as I sat there in the top row (the actual top row) and looked down at rows of people from our local body of Christ. I saw God's laughter and nearness and altogether holiness. And I saw his church, my brothers and sisters. And I heard a song of worship echoing around my head as Third Day opened their concert. And I knew God was laughing at having blessed the socks off of this grumpy Faith Day attender. I laughed too. I love it when he humbles me and lets me laugh about it. I knew God was reminding me of his call on our family to love his church.

Oh, the glimpses have been good.
And the washer has been bad.
And the sanctification of Patti continues.
And she is utterly known by and loved by Jesus Christ himself.
And her home voice mail no longer works.
And she forgot to defrost meat for dinner.

Sublime vs. the not-so-sublime? Anyone seeing it?