February 27

The weird weather trend continued this afternoon with a 60-second surprise.

I was resting in my room when the rainfall that started and stopped and started again all day long abruptly became aggressive. And then came the unmistakable plink, plink, plink against the windowpane. 

I got up to take a quick peek and sure enough, the front yard was dotted with tiny balls of ice. Hail.

I padded into the family room and found Isaac and Brady staring out the windows into the backyard. They were transfixed by the icy pellets that coated the deck and lined the outdoor furniture cushions, so they stepped outside for a look. 

Since life so often works that way, the hail petered out just as they put out their respective hands to touch it, but they were still awed by the sight. 

And even though I grew up with ice and snow, I was awed too, because it reminded me that the Author of Life can insert some pretty amazing and unlikely vignettes into our stories. Snow in unusual places? Sure, why not. Sun and then heavy rain and then sun? Cool. And more profoundly speaking, healing in places and relationships and situations that feel hopelessly broken? Absolutely. 

I got all of that from 60 seconds of hail. Just think of what God could do with 60 seconds of your time.