Memorial Box Monday: A full tank.

My dear bloggy friends,


It's my favorite day of the week again. The one day I know I will always find myself thanking and praising God for His love for me. The rest of the week, I can get caught up in prayers for provision, help, strength, encouragement. Mondays, though, I begin my week with prayers of thanks!


Many years ago, when my boys were quite little, we lived in central Ohio, just north of Columbus. Our families lived further north, in Kent. Each Thanksgiving, we'd pack the kids into the van and drive up to see the family. This particular Thanksgiving, Nathan was about four years old. Ben was just a baby.


Nathan loved visiting the family and eating. Never a picky eater, he fussed about everything that day. He didn't like any of it. He didn't eat much. He played a lot. And then... he threw up. Again. And again. Nathan has an incredible pain tolerance. We discovered he had a fever. My parents were very patient with us while we plopped him in the tub to bring down the fever and packed up to go home. Our visit was cut short, but they understood.


With Nathan all cleaned up, we loaded the boys into the car -- trash can at the ready, just in case. With a last round of hugs, we headed home.


About an hour into the drive, Nathan burst into tears. Inconsolable. Definitely not his modus operandi! At first we thought it was the illness. Eventually, he explained that we left his flowers at grandma's house. 


This is one of those weird memories. I really can't remember where the little wildflowers came from -- maybe they picked flowers from a houseplant. Maybe? Anyway, my mom and Nathan had picked the flowers and put them in a tiny glass earlier in the day. He wanted to bring them home to decorate our kitchen window. When he realized we'd forgotten them, his sick little self just couldn't deal with it.


My husband and I talked for just a moment about heading back to Kent to get the flowers. We were already half-way home, so we'd be doubling our drive. That meant we needed gas money to finish the trip. We discussed the "cost" of gas... but it was nothing compared to his heartbreak. So, we called my parents to let them know we were coming back to get the flowers -- as crazy as it seemed. 


I remember asking God to bless that moment of parenting. We tend toward more practical parenting decision-making. Logically parenting, we would have driven home and promised to pick new flowers another day. We might have explained that sick little boys need to get home to bed, not drive extra hours in the car. But we didn't act logically... we made the decision based simply on love.


Flowers retrieved. Sick boy happy. Hugs given again. We started back home.


When we got to the place where we had made the turnaround, I asked my husband how we were on gas. He looked at the gauge and said, "We're still at half a tank." Really... that's about where we were when we turned around a few hours earlier. Amused, we watched the gas gauge the rest of the drive home. And through the week.


Wherever I went that week -- taking Nathan to the doctor, going for groceries -- the gas tank never emptied. Vividly, I remember turning on the engine, watching the gas gauge with wonder. For several days, I felt like God was giving me a warm hug -- telling me in his own special way that we had done a good job that night.


Pretty cool.


I've already put the dried flowers into an album for my son. The story is recorded there, too. Some day, he will be a daddy. Maybe he'll make the unexpected decisions with his own child sometimes, too, and revel in God's miraculous response. I'm not sure what to put in my own memorial box.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Memorial Box Monday, it started a while ago at Linny's blog. MBM provides an opportunity to remember what God does in our lives. How He answers each and every prayer, whether big or little. I've asked God for some big stuff in the past, such as providing the resources for our adoption and helping me overcome the fears I felt after 9.11. I've asked for the little stuff, too... like patience in the midst of everyday life. God always provides. And that's the wonder of Memorial Box Monday!