(Read Lamentations 3)
Sometimes, the most ordinary moments carry the deepest meaning. My mom shared an experience recently that reminded her of this.
She had just returned from a long cross-country trip, physically and mentally exhausted, but she really wanted to see her grandchildren. She took her grandson, Jack, to the park and watched him take what felt like a hundred laps around. After a while, a woman who had been sitting on a bench got up to leave and stopped to say hello. She shared that Jack’s smile as he rode his bike had been filling her with joy. She then explained that her own son had passed away, and she had recently been reading stories he wrote as a child. One of them described the first time he learned to ride a two-wheeler and how, when she let go, he felt like he was literally flying down the street. She said seeing Jack’s smile reminded her of her son, and that encountering them that day felt like a sign. It was a gift.
In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.
Proverbs 16:9
Sometimes, it’s just a lazy afternoon, a quick visit to the park, or a child happily riding his bike around for what seems like the hundredth time. These quiet moments look like background to anyone passing by. But inside them, there is pure joy, lively movement, and bubbling life.
That’s when something sacred happens!
A stranger on a bench notices a smile. And not just any smile, but one so full of freedom and delight that it reaches beyond the moment. What seems like a passing comment becomes something much more. A connection. A memory awakened—a heart touched in a place that still carries both love and grief. It’s a reminder of God’s perfect and abiding love for His children.
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22–23
For that mother, her son’s memory is a story written in tears long ago. But all of a sudden, it’s fresh. Still sharp and painful, but softened by perspective and God’s grace. Not so far away.
And just like that, God gently reminds us: He is always working.
He doesn’t just do His work in the big, life-altering events, but sometimes in quiet, unexpected encounters. In circles around a park. In laughter. In shared grief. In community. In a way, my nephew Jack’s unstoppable joy became this woman’s healing.
We often look to God for clarity, for answers, and for grand plans. But, a lot of times, He shows up in the in-between—in the “coincidences” that don’t quite feel like coincidences because they’re not. When you believe that God planned everything, even the stars in the sky and counted every hair on our heads, chance starts to look like anything but. I’d bet the woman watching Jack cruise around on his bike didn’t think this was a random crossing of paths.
For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Romans 11:36
That day, a little boy felt like he was flying. And through him, even for a moment, a grieving heart was lifted.
That is the beauty of how God moves. He weaves our lives together in ways we may never fully understand, using even the smallest pieces of our day to bring comfort, connection, and hope. God puts things together for our good and His glory. Maybe today, your smile, your kindness, or even your presence will be exactly what someone else needs.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
You may never know the full impact interactions have upon others, but God does.
My Dad tells me this analogy he heard from a sermon all the time, and it really fits here. It goes something like this:
God knows what His finished work looks like. He has the end in mind. When you look at the back of a beautiful tapestry, you see a tangled web of out-of-place colored threads with no order or logic. Turn it around, and you see the masterpiece that God created. That’s how my Mom’s trip to the park with Jack turned out. She wasn’t even sure she was making the hour-and-a-half drive each way to see the grandkids after spending the previous day on a plane. I don’t imagine the woman sitting on the park bench expected to be uplifted by a boy’s smile while reliving her son’s treasured memory.
We can chalk it up to a coincidence. With that kind of thinking, anything could have prevented it. The weather, different timing, a bad mood, etc… or we can stand in awe of how God orchestrated time and space to make this happen, and be all the more confident in the power and love of our living God.
“I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’”
Isaiah 46:10
Life Application:
- Don’t rush past the quiet moments, like the park trip that almost didn’t happen, the bench you almost skipped, or the smile you almost didn’t notice. God’s doing some of His best work in the spaces we’re tempted to treat as filler.