January 27th

“When I was a child, I was taught God was omnipresent, almighty...what no one ever told me is that God is sneaky.” I heard Sr. Helen Prejean utter words to that affect at a Catholic conference many years ago. Sr. Helen had agreed to write to a prisoner on death row; she eventually found herself pulled into the prisoner’s life and the lives of his victims’ families. She saw the hand of a sneaky God in those events in her life.
 
I cherish her words - and they have proved true in my own life. One of my tendencies is to over schedule myself. For me, that tendency is at odds with any ability to live a contemplative, God-centric life. During one of the busiest times in my life, my husband surprised me with a beagle puppy. Chaos ensued. I quit one part-time job in order to care for Beatrice. Then an odd thing happened - I began to notice flowers blooming, to breathe more deeply, to pray. 
 
If there is truth in the notion that God is sneaky, there is also truth in the saying “old habits die hard.” As Beatrice aged and slept more often, I fell right back into biting off more than was healthy for me to chew. This summer my daughter bought a puppy. When she returned to work in August, she put Ernie Banks in doggie day care - until it closed. She needed someone to help care for Ernie; you guessed it - he comes to my house. Recently, while waiting for Ernie to relieve himself in the backyard, I noticed a flower poking up in the garden, I took a deep breath, and offered a pray of thanksgiving to our sneaky God.