Seeing God in the Ordinary

 My five-year old nephew Charlie and I were spending the day together. We were exploring the local village, visiting cool places like the motorcycle shop, had played on the space shuttle and slides in the playground, ate ice cream, and were now heading toward the “kite store”. My sister had given me the heads up about Charlie’s favorite places, and this one topped the list.

It wasn’t so much the store itself Charlie enjoyed, but the displays on the outside: colorful garden spinners lined the banister along the boardwalk leading to the store. Dozens more were stuck into the ground in a large area just off the sidewalk forming a garden of spinners. Many varieties of colorful circles, spinners in the shapes of cars, planes, a dog riding a bicycle, and a train cheerfully whirled in the summer wind.

Letting go of my hand, Charlie gave a squeal of delight and quickly scampered up the hill into the garden display. His excitement was infectious as he pointed to each in turn, laughing and running with them and the breeze. In a short while another little boy came up the hill, joining Charlie, and the two played through the garden, laughing with the spinners.

The boy’s mom and I chatted while the boys played. We were concerned about what the shopkeeper would say about the boys playing in the display, but the shopkeeper was too busy to notice. The boys were such a great advertisement for the garden spinners, the store now had many customers looking to purchase a spinner for their own gardens.

A God in the Ordinary moment: two little boys, strangers, enjoying a simple pleasure together in the summer breeze.

© Diane L. Neuls DeBlasio 2011