Chips

I should pick up some pita chips for the neighbor who is a shut-in. I know exactly what brand to choose because a few months ago her husband brought me a bag of cinnamon-flavored pita chips to thank me for something that I thought was barely worth mentioning, let alone remembering with a thank-you gift.  He had said that she sent him out to get that particular brand for me because they were her favorite.  Yes, I should definitely pick up those pita chips, especially if I’m not going to make the effort to bake something.  I should feel motivated to do that yet this afternoon.   While I'm out, I might also buy a basket of mums to decorate the patio for the dinner I’m planning for guests next weekend.

I find my purse, tie my shoes and head for the garage, wondering momentarily, with a now-familiar, nagging sort of wonder, why the idea of mums moved me when those pita chips didn't.  The Holy Spirit has so much teaching to do in an ordinary day of my life, so much preparation, such insistence on details.  And, evidently in my case, accomplishing that with no small amount of nagging. 

“The human spirit is the lamp of the Lord, searching every inmost part.” Proverbs 20:27              

Every. Inmost. Part.

Slowly and surely, I'm learning to hear that still, small, blessed ego-humbling voice as God's own.