Grace in Small Things 116, 117

• The cardamom coffee cake I planned to serve to my ACIM group yesterday overflowed in the oven. The dough hitting the heat element caused a lot of smoke, so I had to turn the oven off and abort the baking project.  Where’s the Grace in that, you may wonder? It’s in being aware that the same event as little as two years ago would have thrown me into a toddler-sized tantrum, a melt-down, a frenzy. This time I just took it in stride and was thankful I had a pumpkin pie already made.
• Two students taught me something in the apple orchard Thursday. They were picking a weed to take home and eat.  I asked them the name in Arabic, then looked it up online. It was purslane, considered a weed here but valued for its culinary properties in other parts of the world. It’s super high in omega-3 fatty acids!
• Being entrusted with the level one class today while the instructor tended to an urgent errand.
• Having fun with them.
• Receiving lovely cards from friends wishing us well on our engagement, including one that came with a mega-sized box of orange tic tacs.  We are so blessed to have such friends.
• Going shopping with Sylvain tonight for the bins we will use to construct a winter shelter for the stray cat that Ma feeds. Last winter, before we met him, he got frostbite on his ears.
• Getting to know one of my neighbours better while she waited for her ride to church and I waited for Sylvain. I told her we were going apple picking. She said she loves Honey Crisp.
• Getting a few extra Honey Crisp apples for my neighbour and leaving them outside her door later that day.
• The wreath on her door with the little hand-painted sign nestled inside of it that says: “Love spoken here.”
• Finding a little thank you note on my door today.

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