Suddenly

 Sunday morning, yes, it was a typical Sunday morning until it wasn't. It began around 7:00 am which is my usual Sunday morning wake up time. Buddy hadn't been especially cooperative for getting a full eight hours and I stayed up later due to the LSU unlikely win at Florida. The Sunday morning wake up went so much better than the Saturday wake up. Every once in a while my meds affect me with a little bit of lightheadedness. This was one of those times on Saturday, which really it is more of a movement kind of thing so it is more vertigo related than lightheadedness. With Buddy snuggled in the covers, I got up, went downstairs, turned off Christmas lights and then went out to the back porch to give the Feral Fam treats. These cats know the sound of the key in the door, and then the ringing of the bell attached to the door  and they make a beeline for the porch steps. Radley is usually right there among the group but I didn't see him. So, I whistled. When I whistle they know that food is being served. From up under the fir tree, Radley made his way down from the gravel road and what to my wondering eyes did appear but Radley with a dead squirrel in his mouth which I then emitted a little squeal. Not of delight mind you but of...take that dead squirrel back to the gravel road! Radley kept coming down to the yard and then stopped under the crepe myrtle. To play and throw around the dead squirrel. Quickly, I retreated back into the house because I didn't really want to see the glee these cats would express when Radley, the Alpha male cat, came to them with the bounty which is a dead squirrel. After retreating safely into the house, I began getting ready for church and didn't give the dead squirrel another thought until it came time to feed the cats before leaving. First a visual search of the yard from the kitchen window. Dead squirrel now located and duly noted for any activity by those cats with it. Getting the food set out like normal, I started to make my way to the garage but stopped to pick up several pieces of trash that had blown onto the driveway. About five of those cats left the bowls and returned to the squirrel while I busied myself with trash. "Don't Mess With Texas or a Texas girl in North Carolina." Radley and his cortege made their way toward me, Radley once again carrying the dead squirrel by having the head in his mouth, dragging the body along. They stopped about two feet in front of me...I wanted to move away but I was strangely transfixed by this sight. Suddenly, Radley began swinging that dead squirrel around, let it loose and the dead squirrel flew through the air and landed at my feet. I might have screamed a little and then mentally made a quick check to see if I had wet my pants. Reports back to brain central was, all is calm, all is dry. The cat cortege sat there, not moved by any of my outbursts. I thanked them for the gift and then left them to their own devices. Yes, Christmas came early here in the mountains. In a million years I would never have thought that a dead squirrel would be flung at my feet by a group of feral cats that live and eat in our backyard. Oh, they have brought me dead moles and snakes but usually leave them at a place where I will see them then they quickly take them back. Kind of a token gift. 

Yesterday at church, Pastor Bradley is preaching from Mark 11 and he read out of Luke 2 and Psalm 118. You know you'll be reading along with a preacher and then boom, something in the scriptures jumps out and grabs your attention. For a few minutes you don't mean to but you check out of the sermon and do a quick search of the verses following. What amplified word got my attention? Suddenly... Luke 2, shepherds in the dark of night, guarding their flocks when suddenly....SUDDENLY... an angel of the Lord appears to tell them about the birth of the Messiah. Then...yes you guessed it, SUDDENLY...there was a host of angels backing up the first angel, saying peace on earth good will to men...praising God! After the shepherds visit Joseph, Mary and Jesus, they hurried along to share the good news with others. Suddenly is defined as quickly and unexpectedly. Out of the ordinary night came the unexpected. Suddenly... Although, it was a sudden event for shepherds, I got to thinking, which can be dangerous, but the suddenly wasn't even a sudden thing for God. He had been planning this since before the foundation of the world. Was He so excited to finally let this announcement ring forth? His plan became the shepherd's suddenly. 

Suddenly is used quite often in the Bible when God is on the move. Suddenly is used at the Transfiguration, Jesus appearing after being resurrected, Paul and Peter experienced God's suddenly many times. John on the Isle of Patmos experienced suddenly. Jeremiah and Isaiah wrote about suddenly...we see it in Exodus, Proverbs...all throughout the Bible. Suddenly.

There are all kinds of suddenly in life, good, bad and indifferent but I am writing today about the suddenly in the announcement of Jesus' birth. Life changed in those two suddenly experiences for the shepherds. Out in the fields, keeping watch for danger but after seeing and hearing the angels, do you think that just maybe after that the shepherds kept watch for the suddenly of God. 

The last ten to fifteen years there has been so much emphasis in the church world on the big dream, the big mission and the big impact, but the big has never wooed me into the fold. Yes, the angels are a big deal announcing to the shepherds, but like them most of us, we see the miracles of God in our ordinary schedules, work, play, our ordinary lives; when God's suddenly shows up. 

Sunday mornings suddenly, a dead squirrel, became Sunday afternoons reality. Someone had to get the dead squirrel out of the backyard. The cats had seemed to have lost all interest in it. Its tail was nearly bare of fur but he hadn't been split open or eaten, he had merely been a play thing. We keep a children's gardening set for such a time as this, using the shovel and the rake to scoop up dead things and even disgusting things that come to find a place in the yard or driveway. I couldn't find the little rake so I had to push the squirrel against something to get it on the shovel, then deposit him into the trash bag and get the garbage bin out to the road. 

How many times have I read Luke 2 and never even noticed suddenly but I am happy that this Christmas, I caught a glimpse. During this Christmas season and into the new year of 2021, may we keep our eyes and hearts open for the suddenly of God.