When Lent looks like a car crash (or two)

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
    never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

We have been hammered with unexpected, unbudgeted expenses lately. Two ER visits, a plastic surgeon, an orthopedist, an ambulance, countless pediatrician co-pays, dad's car needing major repairs, mom's car in the shop for a week after someone hit me, and then...

...last week in the peace and calm that is a snowstorm that keeps us all hunkered down and safe from the world, a snowplow hit our third car. You can't make this stuff up. On the same day my husband was retrieving my car after being repaired from the first accident of the month, I was filing a hit-and-run claim with sheriff on the second accident. 

I want to look up at the sky and remind God that we are working super hard to provide here and these big ticket deductibles are starting to scare me. 

Instead, I go for a walk. 

I inhale the absolutely stunning artistry that is a snow day. He can do this! All of this! This glistening, crystal-dripping, opulent beauty. It's His handiwork.

God is God.

He knows all about the insurance companies. He knows all about the work schedules, and the school schedules, and the intense travel schedule in the spring-- and all the demands for fully-functioning automobiles. He is God.

He blankets the whole world in tiny crystals fashioned one at a time. 

And yes, he knows about the beast of a snow plow that took out a 2006 station wagon that isn't even our oldest car. God is bigger than snow plows. 

I was up at 4:00 this morning. Usually, when I awaken at such ridiculous hours, I manage to get up without waking my husband. This time, he was awake, too. He asked what woke me. 

"I don't know, " came my reply, "but my first thoughts were of rental cars and faulty web links."

Perhaps I went to sleep in a cloud of worry.

Perhaps.

And perhaps this morning was a good time to press the re-set button and to focus on contentedness. It was still snowing when the car was hit. Snow covered all the broken pieces of plastic and glass. But with the sunlight, the top layer melted, and there, crushed and fragmented, are the remnants of money invested in a material thing. Cars, houses, clothing, even food--all these things that take up so much brain space, they are easily crushed and broken.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[?“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:26-34

God has no need for money. His exquisite blanket cannot be purchased at any cost. The grasses of these fields? They are clothed in crystal! Faith rises above worry. Even above money worry. I am called to be content. I am given grace to be faithful. I have to remind myself until it's embedded deep within me: He will never leave me. He will never forsake me. Even if I'm stranded with a disabled vehicle, God is bigger.

He'll come get me. 

{Dump your money woes in the combox this morning. Let's pray for each other!}

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Motherhood can feel like the loneliest vocation in the world. Surrounded by children, who frequently bring us to our knees, both literally and figuratively, we can be overwhelmed by isolation. Mothers need community. We can be community for one another. We can encourage on another and hold each other accountable. If you like these short devotions, please share the image and send another woman here. And when you're here, please take a moment to pray with another mother who is visiting. Leave a comment and when you do, pray for the woman whose comment is just above yours. Just a moment--blessed--will begin to build community.

I like to pray when I run in the morning. Often, I listen to Divine Office and pray Morning Prayer or the Office of Readings. Then, I just take up a conversation with God. I'd love to pray for you! Please leave your prayer requests below and we can pray for each other, no matter how we spend our morning prayer time. Meet me back here tomorrow and I'll share the ponderings from my #morningrun.