Driving east over Australia’s ‘Great Divide’, a sense of overwhelming fulfilment and depth struck me. Embraced yes. But what is bizarre about this encounter is it occurred in the most inconceivable time, in the most uncondusive environment to even survive, not even entertaining the notion of it thriving and blowing my mind.
Picture this.
A six hour journey from Parkes to Dungog in a bus with ten children ranging from 15 months to eighteen years old [crazy right there no doubt]. We have all had very little sleep over the past two nights through enormous amounts of peer stimulation. Most are loaded and primed with treats filled with sugar and preservatives, basically the very nectar of child behavioural problems keeping noise levels at a steady droan and antagonisation to at least tolerance.
We are an emotional time bomb waiting to explode all over our blue ford lunch box looking transit.
Just over three hours into our trip the sun is setting an amazing pink and blue on the horizon. The children are asking intelligent and Einsteinish kind of questions. Our bellies are full of snacks and coffee and all things chocolate.
And my heart expands.
I am overwhelmed by emotion and a feeling of fullness. Leaning back and exhaling with satisfaction, I savor and soak up every last drop.
{deep long sigh}
Hits me so unexpected. Clueless to hang any reason on this random warm fuzzy but so very grateful for it.
God just chose to pick this moment in time to reach into my world and invade all my senses way beyond my understanding. Skill to dissect or share of its pleasure are not in my possession, so I selfishly wallow.
I join Oliver Twist and shamelessly appeal; ‘Please sir. May I have some more’
Bowl still in my extended hand, I know this moment is slipping away although I struggle fruitlessly to stay in that place.
Water is spilt all over my five year old and he protests very loudly with vocabulary not to be found in his english workbook. Two older children wrestle over space, rights and position expressing their desired outcomes in demanding tones, and declaring their displeasure and blocked goals with limited empathy.
And oh …. my driver, who has required all focus on the task of tricky country roads, night driving and dodging [or riding right over] kangaroo carcasses is reeling in his surging reaction to his invasion of ability to move his family from point a to b. He pulls over to regroup and express his perspective on this situation in forceful tones. What we have here somewhat resembles a coke bottle shaken and shaken and then shaken again for good measure.
Is my Eden stolen?
Is my hope shot?
Is my peace detrimentally influenced?
Hmmm …. possibly. But more than likely it would have been a lot worse if He hand’ t caught my attention in His unique and overwhelmingly delicious way five minutes earlier.
Thank you God for "suddenlys" and flashes of sun-light through the clouds!! You are an encouragement!!
You are such an inspirational writer. Cathy said it very well in her comment above. enJOY your day!
I just loved this! And I loved your term, "random warm fuzzies." So precious.
HELLO,Sande!!!!! Oh, so delighted to meet you!!!! Can you see me somersaulting?!? Well, maybe not, but judging by your writing, you've enough of an imagination that you can picture me in such a state! And NOT only that…but I see we have much, much in common!!! But 10 kids?? Nope, not even gonna touch that…I only have one, and homeschooling one is ENOUGH!!!! Dickens is one of my all-time faves…and God? He's indescribably amazing!!! And Debbie (Cheffie-Mom) is a mutual friend!! So…can you tell I'm enthused??? And I'm SUPPOSED to be in an underground bunker right now…I'm supposed to be on a blogging break!!! But when I "saw" you, I just HAD to come and say "hello!" After all, my husband and I ALMOST moved to Australia 20 years ago…Love it!!! I picked out my house in Melbourne's suburbs…and when he decided NOT to take the position after all…our marriage even survived!!! Talk about a God-thing…LOL. Well, I can guarantee that you'll see more of me when I return…and not because I've been eating too much chocolate…but just because I like you!!! 😉 Until my return to blogdom, you'll be in my thoughts and prayers!!! Cheers! ~Janine XO
Enjoyed your adventure from my recliner here in Colorado Springs. 🙂
Congratulations for being nominated to POTD, by David. I am over from POTD, and loved your blog. Your style is unique. Will be back to read more, if I may.
chocolate makes all the difference in the world. especially on long trips. the word pic of the coke bottle is amazing to describe disembarking passengers after being trapped in the car. congrats on the POTD mention.
Came over from David Mahon's site where you were POTD – many congratulations. It is a very touching post. About to do our annual trek from East to West UK not quite on your scale but staging a 4am run for a 6hr journey with four dogs, two kids, two adults , camping gear and clothes for two weeks stuffed in a VW Polo, could be interesting!
I'm back! Congrats on the Post of the Day Mention from authorblog! http://david-mcmahon.blogspot.com/2009/07/post-of-day_22.html
Well deserved!