Saturday, September 01, 2007
A little story from ‘life on the road’.
I went in the truck with Ralph a few days ago. I've been going along more often lately and we've even talked about traveling together quite a bit more in the future. In the past few months as we have talked about me spending more time with him on the road I have pondered maybe beginning a life journal about some of the places we travel to and through.
As I have pondered stepping into this new adventure of spending much, more time on the road with my husband I look forward to experiencing the sunrises and the sunsets, the various landscapes and the awe of knowing that it's the Creator who creates this beauty before us. I also have been looking forward to watching people in action. It's an anticipation of experiencing His art in earthly, human and spiritual form.
A couple of days ago when I went with Ralph, he had a run to Sault St. Marie. It's a beautiful drive as you come upon the Mackinaw Bridge. I've experienced the bridge in many different kinds of weather now. The snow, fog and beautiful sunshine. In all of these weather conditions the area is still beautiful and awe-inspiring. I'm always amazed at not only the God-made expanse of the mighty Great Lakes, but also of that immense structure of that man-made bridge. City buildings throughout this country also awe me and the recent trip we made on the Harley to Mount Rushmore was so crazy amazing!
My story from the other day however, is not a land or scenic story, it's a people story. A God-filled, awe-inspiring, people story. There wasn't any interaction with the people on our part, we just watched.
We had dropped a trailer into the dock and hooked to another. We pulled to the side to let others have room to load, unload and maneuver their trucks through that area while we went into the store to use the bathroom and look around the food area for a light snack. After I returned to our cab and as Ralph was checking the truck and trailer I spotted a little guy about the age of 8 or so, on the other side of the loading dock playing in the grassy area. He was studying the most beautiful wild sunflowers growing there. These flowers were taller than he was. They were not the kind with one gigantic flower on a stem but of many stems with one root with beautiful medium sized flowers on each stem.
I smiled as I watched this little guy beginning to pull this flower out. I assumed that he was thinking about his momma. As I watched, he managed to pick this flower and one could just see he was thinking intently. He would take the bottom of the root and gently pound it on the ground to loosen the dirt around the root. He knew if he was going to have a chance to take this flower home he better get the dirt off of it first. He did this several times before he entered the cab of the truck through his father's door. His father was nowhere to be seen at the time, so I assumed he was inside signing paperwork.
The cab of this truck was a small day cab with no sleeper. As I watched him set the flower right in the center of the cab and the flower heads bounded upon the dashboard, I thought how very lovely that cab now looked. But my thoughts were also, "Oh boy, his dad is probably not going to be too happy with this gigantic, dirt bottomed flower in his truck and there's a chance the conversation with his son might not be so pleasant."
Ralph had gotten into the cab of our truck about this time so I mentioned to him what had just happened. He smiled upon looking at the little guy and thinking about him wanting to take this flower home to his mom. As we were chatting about what the dad's reaction might be we noticed him approaching the passenger’s side of his truck cab. We waited in anticipation and a bit of expectancy of this dad's reaction. He must have been far enough away from the side of the truck cab to be able to see this massive bunch of sunflowers spread across his dashboard because it was then that we witnessed his reaction. Priceless! It touched our hearts to see this dad suddenly get the biggest grin on his face and give a light hearted chuckle. The smile continued as he walked around the front of the cab and opened the door. Still smiling he directed his young son over to the passenger’s side as he crawled into the driver's seat. The smile never left this dad's face and as we pulled away we knew we had just witnessed a precious taste of what life is all about. Ralph gave a light beep of the horn and a quick wave as we smiled at this son and daddy team while we pulled away.
This story is life. It's about what the heart of our heavenly Father must feel. We saw first of all the deepest heart desire of a son to give the simple gift of love to his mom. Love was moving in the heart of this little boy to lavish a simple yet beautiful gift to momma. Then daddy came along and added more love by ignoring the dirt and embracing the innocent thoughts of his son, which of course added a new and deeper measure of love in the whole circumstance. This dad's reaction was life-giving. It was a brief moment in my life, yet the impact of the love I witnessed will be with me forever.
© Annie Milliman
