Beneath the geyser

Life gushes sometimes. Water shooting from a geyser, droplets flying north, south, east and west, all free falling into the same pool below. Carried along in the stream, it's easy to make it halfway down the river before opening my eyes to see the landscape.

All within a week's time.

Sis calls, tells me they need to put their house on the market now, that there's a strong possibility they could wind up financially upside-down if it doesn't sell soon. She's determined to trust God, fighting the urgency that breeds stress. Less than a week later, they have a solid offer and it's in the process of being sold.

In Japan, cousin Josh in the Marines needs surgery, to remove a cyst on his brain that's been growing for years, stealing his health. The military arranges for his parents to fly to D.C. for passports, and then to Japan, to care for him while he's in the hospital. Prayers fly out. He receives excellent, compassionate care from hospital staff, makes it through surgery with a positive outcome, and is on the road to recovery with the hopes of a better quality of life.

My novio gets in a car accident the night before his family is set to arrive for a month's visit from Mexico. The car is totaled, while he is virtually unharmed. I join him at the airport to witness the joyful reunion with the family he hasn't seen in several years, and find myself pulled into a bienvenidos embrace, kisses on my cheeks, smiling into their warm and beaming faces for the first time. We share a meal and gifts at eleven pm, conversation flying from their mouths in Spanish, halting from my own mouth. I fall into bed late, smitten.

It's easy to get distracted by life's cracks; by the rush of events, big and small. Is it chaos, or is it beauty? I step back and peer through the cracks, see the beauty, the grace that seeps through to refresh my eyes. It's grace that gushes from every direction, and I stand soaked beneath the shower, grinning crazy.