In Ashley’s Harvest Moon Café on a Wednesday morn, it happens to be St. Patrick’s Day, 2021. Drip coffee, refillable for free, and a coconut chocolate chip muffin warmed just right, starts my time of labor here instead of at home. I don’t thrive being alone.

I observe. People watching, one of my favorite pastimes, has drastically been denied. A plethora of people right before my eyes!

There’s a man with a cap that speaks of a sailor past; his silver crown hides his story. In the soft chair he reads for a few hours and leaves. I’ve not seen a soul speak with him.

We heard the sound of spiritual thunder. We didn’t know it at the time.

It was a sound I’d never heard before, the other two women didn’t recognize it either but we all heard it. It stopped our conversation, turned our attention, and caused us to peer out the window. One asks aloud the question, “What was that?” In the moment none of us had an answer. A flippant answer flashed through my mind like an inappropriate joke. Thankfully Wisdom’s been teaching me to keep my mouth shut.

We then returned to the reason for my visit, which was prayer.

Thank You, God, for the legacy of this chair.

And for all the prayers, prayed, sitting there.

When I was raising my children and a stay-at-home mom I learned something from a Focus on the Family broadcast that stuck with me. I think it applies to today. The broadcast dealt with cleaning your house. The woman made the statement that anyone, no matter who they were or how messy their house was, could get it clean in 7 days. Pretty bold statement I thought. She had a system written out on 3x5 cards. A system with daily tasks, weekly tasks, quarterly tasks and six month and annual tasks.

Psalm 34:3 invites us to Magnify the Lord together. 

Put God first. Lift up your eyes towards heaven (Psalm 121:1-8). Praise the Lord all the day! I've learned something new. This is how we fight; we do NOT engage the enemy; we PRAISE THE LORD! James 4:7

We have two examples to follow: in 2 Chronicles 15:1-19 with Asa in 2 Chronicles 20:1-33 with Jehoshaphat. However, let's make sure we DO take down the high places (idolatrous altars) this time.