Yesterday I came home to this . . .
Apparently my two youngest daughters and their friend had decided to build a fort in our living room. As children have done for eons, every chair and blanket in the house was hauled into the room and strategically placed in order to a create a spacious multi-use gathering space. When I was a kid, we used to call them forts, but in today's Occupy Wall Street context, we'll just call it a tent. It was quite the production. During the ongoing construction, there were arguments about entrance and exit locations, where to place the music room and the occasional complaint that the dog was getting in the way. But they finished and for the next few hours tent activities included a musical performance from the Hairspray Soundtrack, multiple games of flashlight tag and, as they got ready to spend the night in their new location, lots of whispers and giggles.
As my wife and I observed this massive building project, we realized that our living room had indeed been "occupied." After laughing at our own cleverness, it became clear that this Occupy encampment was not made up of folks fighting the good fight, frustrated by economic injustice and corporate greed, but rather it was fueled by the imagination and joy of our children.
I didn't realize how much I needed to be reminded of the simplicity of God's presence in the world and my life. This week had been tough. Not only were there overwhelming and devastating events happening in the world, but there had been some stark personal reminders of how much people I knew where in emotional turmoil. So while I wanted my personal "go big or go home" God to swoop in and save the day with a mighty and magnificent act of righteousness, that was not what I needed. Turns out, all I needed to remind me that God is moving somehow and some way in all of this were a few moments of laughter with my wife, the grace-filled joy of my kids and a tent in the living room.
I'll take it.
It is enough.
Now if I could just find a chair to sit in, life would be perfect ;-)
While I attempt to engage with comments in the various places my posts are published, if you want to interact, best is to comment on the original www.reyes-chow posting.