“I need a man!” I shouted. I was greeted with silence, wide eyes, and smirking from my friends who had gathered to help me move from my town home of two years to a new apartment. I made that exclamation numerous times throughout the day, too tired to realize the double meaning I was conveying to everyone around me; besides, I didn’t think I needed a qualifier within the context of it being moving day – heavy furniture needed to be moved and I certainly wasn’t about to attempt it on my own when I had strong male friends around.
I have yet to live down my empathic statements.
My recent move went exceptionally well, and as I was thanking God for His provision, I realized that sometimes miracles come in the every-day form.
Miracles are when friends show up late the night before moving day to help you pack your bedroom and paint your new apartment, bringing dinner with them; miracles are somehow getting your house packed the morning of your move, and not only getting everything packed but also getting everything moved in record-time. Miracles are getting your Internet-connection hooked up the night you need it when you have a deadline to make. Miracles are having friends unpack your boxes on the other end, setting up your kitchen so that when you stumble into it later that night, exhausted after a long day, you can actually find a glass to help satiate your thirst. Miracles are watching three burly men get an upright piano into your second-story apartment, undamaged. Miracles are when you stumble into your bathroom after everyone has left for the day and discover hot water for a shower when you were told that because of a mix-up, you’d only have cold water for a few days. Miracles are the love you experience from those around you who support you, figuratively and sometimes literally, when you are too tired to do it on your own. Miracles are the grace God gives you when you part ways with your closest friend and no longer have her in the room next to yours. Miracles are watching God bring your new roommate into your life in a way that leaves no room to wonder if He’s in control. Miracles are watching people come together to help and support each other.
Miracles are the very breaths we take, the health we have, the ability to reflect, and so as I look around my new apartment, I am reminded that we have daily reasons to thank God for His many blessings and the miracles He bestows upon us.
And, when it comes to upright pianos being moved to second-story apartments, yes, sometimes you do need a man.
- Christen Patterson, May 2007
