Stay Open for an Unexpected Comment
—Grace & Truth Linkup
I’m sitting in the recliner scanning email. I have a notification. Someone posted a comment in the Nextdoor app. It’s July 5 and a neighbor is adding yet another post on how noisy the past few days have been.
And they’re not wrong. Neighborhood fireworks were especially loud night after night leading up to and on the 4th.
The initial post is usually all I read on the Nextdoor app. I don’t delve into the comments very often. Because they can turn ugly fast. I glance, though, at a highlighted comment under the fireworks post. And regret it immediately. It is quite hateful.
However, there has been one exception to reading app comments that I am glad I made.
Someone posted a question in the Nextdoor app a few months ago:
What’s being built on the corner with all the construction?
The property recently sold as commercial. Piles of dirt have been brought in. But no signs have been posted yet explaining what it is.
I’ve been wondering, too. What it will be?
I jumped down to the comment section and started reading.
There were a few wild guesses, many involving things we already have a lot of: storage units, tire stores, car washes.
And a lot of suggestions that it’s perhaps another Dollar General.
We have MANY Dollar Generals in our neck of the woods. There are three Dollar Generals within three miles of my house.
Yet this comment from one of the neighbors regarding Dollar General caught me off guard:
“I went to use the restroom in a Dollar General and there was another Dollar General in there. Fully stocked and staffed.”
And I laughed out loud.
And laughed. And laughed. (I’m actually laughing again even as I type this here!)
You never know where your next belly laugh might come from. Stay open. Even in the comments.
Featured Post
Donna shared at the linkup last week about reframing how we look at unexpected surprises. We often dread the thought of one, anticipating that it will be negative.
But Donna reminds us that we can actually celebrate looking for the unexpected. Sure, sometimes we’ll find hard things. God will stay with us in those.
But we often may discover pleasant surprises that God sends our way.
“The next time the unexpected presses into your day, sit up and take notice, a God moment sits on the precipice. If you look with a view of finding Him, even in the unexpected hard, the treasure of transformation awaits you. God does His best work in the unexpected places.”
Thanks for sharing, Donna!
Read all of Donna’s post here, then link up your own blog posts below.
When is the last time you had a true, unexpected belly laugh? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
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Thanks for pointing out Donna’s post. I had missed it. As I said there, I can rejoice in the good unexpected, but balk at the unpleasant unexpected. Yet God has something for me in both.
That was a funny comment about Dollar Tree. I laugh often, but I can’t remember the circumstances of the last time.
Same here: I like the good surprises. I’m sometimes slow to find the good nugget in the unpleasant surprises. But most of the time there’s something we can pull out, even if it doesn’t quite outweigh the bad. I’m glad God doesn’t leave us stranded without something positive to hold on to, even if it’s just his hand.
Thank you Lisa, for featuring my post! I loved the story about your reading the nextdoor app comments-I came across a hilarious comment on Twitter the other day that took me by (pleasant) surprise! I’m learning to stay open!
I appreciate you linking up so faithfully here, Donna. Like our other regular contributors, you add such value every time!
One of my sisters often prompts me to the funniest Twitter comments. There are some quite creative people online if we know where to find them. 🙂
Even here in Maine, DG’s just keep multiplying. I have yet to go inside one, so I haven’t checked the bathroom….
I heard just this week about yet ANOTHER DG being built just a few miles away. It’s really crazy. They are convenient, granted. I don’t shop there regularly, but they’re great when you need just one or two small items and don’t want to drive far. They’ve saved me plenty of times. I didn’t know Maine had any DG’s, so be prepared for the hoarde since they’ve moving in. They multiply like rabbits. 🙂
Lisa,
I laughed too! And you are so right about Dollar General stores…They are popping up everywhere….I love going to a local design and gift store that is in an old barn on a family farm……It is out in the “Middle of Nowhere” so to speak , surrounded by farms and much to my surprise, there was a Dollar General on the corner of these cross roads in the middle of farm land…It was a nice one too!! LOL!! Thanks so much for stopping by!! Stay safe, healthy and happy!!
Hugs,
Debbie
That’s funny that a Dollar General was even in the “Middle of Nowhere.” I get that. 🙂 I think they definitely are working a strategy to pop up anywhere and everywhere!
I can enjoy the same joke or funny story for days!
But yes, I want to be open to seeing God work in all kinds of situations – not just the ones I’m expecting.
I’ve been laughing for days now about something that happened Thursday. But it’s funnier with some people than others. ha. My older sister and I typically have the same kind of humor so it’s fun to share mutual funny stories together.