Chicken Soup for the Single Parent's Soul by Jack Canfield

Author:Jack Canfield
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
ISBN: 9780757394874
Publisher: HCI, The Life Issues Publisher
Published: 2010-08-12T00:00:00+00:00

“You’ve been both a father and mother to me, Dad, so I got you a Mother’s Day card.”

©2002. Reprinted by permission of Bob Zahn.

Sometimes, God Sends a Cockroach

God speaks to all individuals through what happens to them moment by moment.

J. P. DeCaussade

Sometimes, it seems God sends catastrophic things into the world to get the attention of the human race. Floods, plagues, the parting of seas have all served as reminders of a presence greater than our own. Often, these tragedies serve as catalysts for people to pull together and unite.

I have noticed that God sends reminders to us individually as well. On a much smaller scale, we have all received gentle indications that we are not alone, and that together we are stronger. It’s like someone interrupting your daydream. They call your name or tap you on the shoulder, and you’re shaken out of one reality into another. But God has to find other ways to get our attention. In my life, God sent a cockroach.

The night of my forty-second birthday, I had just returned home with my son from playing miniature golf. He was seven years old, and we were both struggling with the divorce that had shaken our small family. We argued, though the actual cause of the argument is long gone from my memory. All I remember is both of us feeling sad and angry and tearful all at once. In the midst of what was a very irrational, emotional scene, my son looked over at the patio door and said in awe, “Mommy, that is the hugest bug I’ve ever seen!”

I looked behind me to see, indeed, one of the largest cockroaches I’ve ever seen. Some people politely call them water bugs, but you know what they really are. And in our town, when they spray the sewers, they come up through the drains and say, “Howdy!”

I loathe them.

But in a split second, that bug became our deliverer. My son and I became instantly united against the bug. It was no longer me against him or him against me. It was us against Godzilla. We rid our home of the bug, closed all the drains and snuggled into bed, laughing at our pest-control heroics. We reminded each other that we love each other no matter what. And as I dozed off, I actually thanked God for the cockroach.

Since that time several years ago, God has often intervened in moments such as those. Just last week, my now preadolescent son told me that I “just don’t get it sometimes,” as we left to get ice cream, hoping to lift our foul mood. Driving down the darkening street, something caught our eye, and before we knew it, we were both out of the car, fascinated with a young king snake crossing the road in the twilight. Another moment of unification took place. The mood lifted. It was like God saying, “Hey, look at this. Look at this cool snake.” I no longer think it odd or coincidental when these things happen.

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