Mercy drops round us are falling

So today I had the day off today after working on "the Mother of all Spreadsheets" all day Friday, Saturday and most of Monday.

I slept until just about 10 a.m. - just in time to go over for coffee break at work. I decided to take some books, some podcasts and music to listen to, my journal and just camp out on these lovely rocks that are not too far from my office.

I ride or walk past this spot every day and recently I realized it would be a nice spot to come and relax. In Mali, I would sometimes go to the National Park and sit and read and was a bit sad that there was no similar place here, until I realized there was one right under my nose.

After listening to a podcast, reading a "Father Brown" story and then some in "Tell it Slant" by Eugene Petersen, I started writing in my journal. The rock I was on was a bit cold or hard or something so I moved to a smaller one out in the sun.

And then I looked down and saw something glistening in the grass. It looked like a diamond, or perhaps a piece of glass. I reached down half expecting to find an earring someone had lost in the grass. But it was a drop of dew, or perhaps a rain drop from last night's big rain. It was already 1 pm and I was a bit surprised to find either.

Then I started looking and there were drops on dozens of leaves.


The more I looked, the more there were. There are at least 5 drops in the picture below.




This is my favorite of the pictures, with the perfectly round drop in the middle of this leaf.



My rock was on a fairly well-traveled path, and 2 people came by and so I showed them the drops and we all shared the wonder together.

I began to think of the songs that compare God's Mercy to dew drops

 

"Mercy drops round us are falling. . . "

or

I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses,
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

---------------------

How often do I miss these drops of mercy, these signs of God's love? They are out there in the grass probably every day and I rush by them to the office.

As I was writing that in my journal, just to make sure I did not miss the wonder of the moment, God sent me a little TINY praying mantis who hopped right up in my journal.

He stopped a while on the word "budget" and decided his leg needing cleaning.




Somehow he was entirely fearless. I put him on my pen and he scrambled off and even crawled up the page as I turned the pages.



So those were my gifts from God today.

If it's been a while since you stopped to sit quietly and make room for God to surprise you with wonder and grace, do it.

[PS. if you like the pics, you can see them in full res at https://www.flickr.com/photos/timthast/]