Even with a pantry full of home-made apricot jam, my boys are going through a raspberry jam sandwich phase. Every morning without fail, I make a stack of these for their lunch, and lick the spoon as my reward. With a fledgling raspberry patch, it will be some years before our crop yields enough for jam, so a jar of this good stuff is often on my shopping list.
Like last week, when I wrote it down diligently ... and then walked right past the jams and marmalades and clean forgot to pick some up. As these things go, I didn't remember until I reached the other end of the store. Not the end of the jam aisle, but the diagonal opposite of the supermarket. I was as far from jam as you could wish to be, and my trolley was already overflowing.
I steered toward the eggs, making mental notes to swing around and backtrack to aisle 1, when there, between flaked almonds and cornflour, I spied a solitary abandoned jam jar. Raspberry! And it winked at me like a genuine ruby ring in a box of paper crowns.
Well, not really. But in my heart I like to think God winked. There are times when He knows what I need and makes provision before I even go to Him. I hadn't thought to pray for jam to appear where it shouldn't be, knowing 100 jars were mine for the taking if I'd only looked for them earlier. And I was prepared to make my way back there. But God had some fun with me... and I didn't hesitate to take what He allowed me to see, miles from where it should have been.
Have you ever experienced God's quirky provision? Has He smiled on you and given, before you even asked? I shared this little story with my children because I believe it's important to look out for the hand of God in the little things, as much as the big ones. Coincidence has no room to play when God arrives. I hope you think so too.
Blessings for a wonderful weekend, dear friends. I hope there's a quirky wink from God for you in the days to come.
See you Monday,
