love stains

I've faced a lot of sadness lately. It's the kind that is natural after big losses and will pass with time, but you know how that can flavor everything for a while. On days like this, you just don't need to spill something on your only clean pair of pants.

But it always seems to happen anyway. My own pants are currently slathered in spicy garlic sauce from Buffalo Wild Wings. The truth is, though, that the stain was sustained during a late night outing with great friends, one of whom shared the over-sauced chicken legs with a hungry but budgeted me. We all laughed when I dropped the thing...and I really needed to laugh. And I needed to know, even if it was in a silly way, that my friends love me even in my clumsy messes.

God promises to get us through sad times like these. In the meantime, he shows us his goodness in so many ways. Some are conventional, some a little strange. But they are all signs of his love, from the unexpected note from a friend to the scent of spicy garlic on my once-clean corduroy.