Phlegm Ball

There’s a sign on my wall painted by a friend that says, “Pray, Hope and Don’t Worry.” There’s a voicemail on my phone from a priest who said, “Persevere.” And there’s a little girl in my first grade class who had her sweatshirt on her head today as she laughingly walked around saying, “Can somebody lead me? I don’t know where I’m going.”

That same little girl interrupted my one-on-one instruction with another student today with the exclamation, “Something nasty came out of my mouth again!” She held a phlegm ball out on her pointer finger for me to inspect.

Disgusted, but not disgruntled, I said, “OK, go throw it out and wash your hands.”

She proceeded to dance her way to the trashcan waving her phlegm finger in the air (who knows where that little treasure landed) and stopped in front of the garbage. She paused and pondered, with her finger pointing still poised for deposit (though I think she had wiped it on her pants by now), and then asked, “Trash or recycling?”

I looked up from my instruction, reflexively said “trash," but could not help laughing. Trash or recycling? For real?

What could you make with a recycled phlegm ball? A super ball? Lord, have mercy.

So these are the tidbits God, my bizarre lover, gave me today. What am I gleaning? Life is still hard. But I need to be bold, and ask someone wise when I don’t know the answer. Sometimes it takes sharing my gross stuff with others to learn how to deal/what to do with it. Right now I feel like I don’t know where I’m going, but I am not alone. And clearly God is loving me in little alien ways.