SYNCHRONICITY

Out of a long-time habit, I tend to utter a quick prayer of protection every time I go out the front door… or most times at my new house… out the kitchen door to the garage.  These short prayers pretty much always include a reference to Psalm 91:10 where the Psalmist wrote, that under the protection of the Lord’s care, “No evil will befall me, nor will any plaque come near my dwelling.” (NASB personalized)

I am not quite sure when I started doing this, but I have to believe it was when Piper and I started dating in high school… hummm… I’d better explain… it wasn’t because I was afraid of her, but because as long as I knew her, she always began any journey with a prayer… and it just made sense to me!

I was reminded of this earlier today when I read from John 15:5 in The Message paraphrase version of the Bible.  With a kind of working-in-the-garden approach, Jesus is reported to have said to His followers, “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation (is) intimate and organic, (and) the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing.” 

While I was studying out this statement, I suddenly thought of the word, “SYNCHRONICITY” which according to Dictionary.com means “an apparently meaningful coincidence in time of two or more similar or identical events that are casually unrelated.”  When observed in relation to Jesus’ words in John 15:5, it can simply be said that when we place and keep ourselves in active union with Jesus… well… things just tend to come together for our benefit!

So, back to this morning.  As I slipped the harness onto my hardly-able-to-stand-still dog for our walk this morning, I prayed Psalm 91:10 for our spiritual and health protection and added the caveat of angelic protection from any harm, including from people, other dogs and flying projectiles… ie; golf balls! (Hebrews 1:14 tells us that angels are ministering spirits for us the believers).

Once out the door we turned left and headed over to the wire fence along the neighboring golf course for our scenic journey to the park and pond.  It was a beautiful morning and as I was enjoying the neighborhood and all the green before me, I suddenly heard something brush through the outer branches of the tree next to us, and looked up in time to see a small while missile coming straight for me!  I had just enough time to quickly turn sideways as a golf ball whished within inches of my left shoulder!

It definitely got Fiver’s attention as well for he quickly turned from the scent he was following, looked up at me and then followed the course of the ball into the drainage ditch on the other side of us.  Then we both sort-of stopped and looked at each other as I smiled and laughed aloud saying, “Well, that was close!”

We then continued our walk between the backyards of some of the houses a couple of blocks over from my street and came near the border of the golf course and park where four young men (young to me anyway… probably in their 40’s!) were just beginning to walk, single file up the pathway to the next hole. 

It was actually very funny, as Fiver and I neared them, and I called over to them, with a big smile and said, “Okay, which one of you sliced it?” and the first three men, without saying a word, turned and pointed to the last guy whose face was red as a beet!  We joked around for a few moments and then Fiver and I continued on with our walk. 

But after a few steps, I stopped and said to Fiver, “that was “SYNCHRONICITY” in action!  We had prayed for protection and God set it up that the ball hit the very tip of the branch with enough time to warn me of the upcoming hazard!  There are only a handful of trees along the way we walk which affords a mostly unrestricted view of the golf course, and we just happened to be walking by one, and the ball just happened to barely brush the branch?  Let me tell you, that ball was hit hard and definitely would have hurt, had it struck me!

SYNCHRONICITY!  That’s what happens when we actively keep ourselves in union with God.  I can look back over the years when I was caring for Piper and see the times when someone just happen to come by and help me move her, or I just happened to find a new medicine for Piper (in a totally unrelated magazine) to suggest to the doctor, or how we happened to find the house of our dreams in the country side we had never set eyes on before in North Carolina… or the exactly-the-way-I-wanted-it-set-up six year old Mustang GT Convertible, two states away from where we lived at the time… and the list goes on of the seemingly impossible becoming possible for us!

Paul’s matter-of-fact attitude in Ephesians 3:20 seems to perfectly sum up what I’m trying to express here when he declared, “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.” (The Message)

This was just a normal way of life for him and he expected nothing less than God’s best when he prayed to Him.  Paul knew that God would always be true to His Word as he stayed deeply and actively in union with Jesus! 

I’m sold on it!  It is just a way of life for me… and even though it always blesses me and sets me at awe when God puts all the seemingly unrelated pieces of the puzzle together in order to meet a need… I still tend to EXPECT it (somehow) to happen… when I trust in Him.  

How about you?

A quick shout-out to all the Mothers as we celebrate Mother’s Day tomorrow!  With the passing of Piper’s Mom a few weeks ago, this is my first year without a Mother present to honor in person… but I have a wealth of wonderful memories to keep me honoring my Moms for a lifetime!  I bet you do too! 

But, it’s a bit of a tough time for me as well, as I will celebrate a third Mother’s Day without the physical presence of our children’s Mom.  I’m sure that I am a little prejudice, but Piper was the best Mom!  She gave them every ounce of her love and energy in raising our kids and homeschooling them through high school.  She was way ahead of her time when she announced to our family and friends that she was going to homeschool our kids.  Having a history of public-school teachers on both sides of our family’s didn’t help, but she stuck to her guns and eventually gained the support of most everyone!

They say that guys tend to marry a woman that in many ways resembles their Moms… and I can most definitely see that with Piper and my Mom.  Both of them had outgoing, humorous and accepting-of-everyone-around-them type of personalities.  They both tended to capture the attention of everyone when they walked into a room, and were the first to reach out to someone in need.  And they always blessed the socks off of me!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mom’s out there!  Have a wonderful day tomorrow and as you do… keep EXPECTING not only God’s best for you… but for Him to do it with “SYNCHRONICITY”