Sunsets and Lizards

Have you needed a solution and received a lesson bigger than the situation you faced?

Can you see God in the ordinary?

Often, I seek and find God in the majestic. The beauty of a breath-taking sunset or the twisty nature of a timeworn tree can quickly move me to acknowledging his power and presence in my life.  One ordinary day, He taught me a lesson and answered a prayer using a lizard and a broom.

I was sitting in the kitchen having lunch, when a small movement on the windowsill caught my eye. I had an instant stomach pang, because I knew, without fully looking, what creatures make those types of movements. Small. Green. Lizards. A confirming look stole my appetite. I would have been no less upset to discover a crocodile sunning in my backyard.  Now, that may be irrational thinking to you, but admittedly, I have an irrational fear of lizards.  They jump and they’re very fast. The thought of own freely crawling throughout my house is not acceptable.

Therefore, I had a dilemma. How do I get this lizard out of my house? As I mentally scrolled through options, something strange happened. I really looked at the lizard.  He was beautiful. Boasting delicate features, he could not have been more than three inches long. His skin was perfect, and the brilliant shade of green changed to an odd grey when his foot touched the window lock. He was amazing. I knew that only God could make something so beautiful and so perfect. The same God that supplies my daily needs supplies his. Now I had a new dilemma. I needed to get him out of my house but harming him wasn’t an option.
 
My first plan to capture him in a plastic butter tub failed quickly when he made a jump towards me. He may have been beautiful, but I still didn’t want him touching me. So, I moved to plan “B” better known as the broom.
 
Lizards apparently do not like brooms, because he ran on the first sight of it. What happened next is not so pretty.  I will spare you the play by play, but let’s just say that the more I tried to persuade him to ride the broom to safety the more he and I both panicked.
 
The events that transpired next are God things.
 
This lizard turned on the windowsill, lay down, and made eye contact with me. It was really an odd moment. But God very clearly and carefully used those minutes to answer a prayer in my life.

Teary-eyed, I grasped the lesson and acknowledged that God was addressing the thoughts of my heart. With the lizard still staring at me, I replaced the broom on the windowsill. He carefully turned and slowly walked onto the straw lined edge. This lizard was cooperating with plan “C” better known as being carried.

He stood motionless as I transported him from inside my house to outside. As he disembarked beside my front door, I watched him scamper toward the border grass and wondered if he knew that the Creator had needed him for a teaching illustration.

My lizard story is affirmation that God is always at work in my life. He does not miss one tear that falls from my cheek, and he is faithful to answer prayer.
I am thankful for the Living God who loves me enough to creatively span the distance between a breath-taking sunset and the end of my broom. If I had not learned through the study of Scripture to look for the power and presence of God in the ordinary as well as the majestic, I might have missed my lizard lesson.  I might have missed the wonder of God at work in my ordinary day.

Big Love,
Jo

Friend, solution seeking is both normal and necessary. So are heart lessons. God works in the ordinary moments of our life to reveal his extraordinary, caring nature.  Whether it’s a three-inch lizard or a long, exhausting trial, God is listening to your heart and speaking.

I encourage you to seek the majestic moments that take your breath away with wonder, and to embrace to the mundane ones with an understanding that God oversees them all.  His power and presence reveal in both vast, golden sunsets and three inches of green.