A few weeks ago, we went to Dave & Busters with some friends.  The kids had a great time playing all of the arcade games and earning tickets.  As we wandered from game to game, I was genuinely surprised at how many ‘tokens’ some of the games took to run.  I had this sinking feeling that our tokens were going to run out before our kids would run out of energy.

We walked up to one particular game- a ‘Wheel of Fortune’ type of game.  It took roughly 10 tokens to play.  All you had to do was spin the wheel to potentially win more tickets, ranging from 0 to 1,000 tickets with one spin.   My son wanted to play so badly; I think that he was hypnotized by all the lights.  I tried to talk him out of it, telling him how it was a waste of tokens, there was no skill involved, and that he would end up with nothing.  He refused to listen and was adamant about playing THIS game.  Reluctantly, I swiped the card and deducted 10 tokens from our ‘bank’.

He spun that wheel as hard as his little body could.  He was so excited.  He followed the wheel as it spun around and around. It seemed like it spun forever.  And then it stopped.

It landed on the 1,000 tickets spot.  He had hit the jackpot.

I cannot describe the mayhem that happened after that.  I honestly have never seen him more excited.  I think at some point he was rolling around on that nasty floor, screaming with joy.  It was hilarious.

When we were talking about it the next day, he flat out told me “Mama, that was the goodness of God.” I nodded yes and told him that he was right.  And I told him that God does care about these things in our lives that we think are so little and insignificant.  I also told him that I was proud of him for ignoring my negativity and doing it anyways.

For the last several weeks, I have been challenging myself to find the beauty in each day.  It was easy to do when I was on vacation and had incredible beauty right in front of my eyes.  It’s a little harder to see beauty when you’re back in your daily routine.  But, it is there.  Many times God winks at us or speaks to us in such subtle ways.  His goodness is in plain sight, but since it’s not like the flashing lights on the game, I often miss it.  It’s usually not accompanied by a reward of 1,000 anything, but instead, it can come in the middle of hardship and pain.  But it is there. Just keep looking.