My oldest daughter Morgan loves horses.
My youngest daughter Jenna loves cows.
Me? I love my daughters.
So when Jenna wanted to find cows to photograph on our hour drive home from Thanksgiving dinner, I obliged. 
LOOKING
As we drove, I looked for fields. I looked for fences. I looked for barns.
And of course I looked for cows, but sometimes you see the markers before you see the treasure.
I spotted a marker. An open, fenced-in area.
And then I spotted the prize. A pasture filled with cows.
We turned around, wound around the smaller road, and parked. Standing at the edge of the field, my happy daughter started snapping her camera. 
CONNECTING
But we weren’t alone. A young dad with a two-year-old on his shoulders wandered across the road where we were.
And made a suggestion. An offer of connection.
He knew the cows’ owner. Kind of. He could walk us over, if we wanted him to, for closer encounters.
My maternal instincts began whispering, “We don’t know this man. Nor do we know the place he’s leading us to. Is this wise???”
But Jenna’s huge smile and a good gut feeling made the connection too inviting to refuse. “Let’s do it!”
DOING
The knock on the farmhouse door led to Mr. B coming out. We explained the cow mania. He was understanding.
And the next thing I knew, Jenna and I were riding on a John Deere Gator through a cow pasture in a town not our own with a 90-year-old man we’d just met through another stranger we’d never seen.
The looking and the connecting led to the doing.
And the smiling.
And the interacting.
And the memory-making.
All glorious.
AGAIN?
This Advent I begin a new search.
For markers.
For Jesus’ coming in a fresh way.
I look in the Word. I look in songs. I look through people.
I can’t predict the connections He’ll make. But I know He’ll make them.
Connecting me to Him.
For the doing.
The smiling.
The interacting.
The memory-making.
May it be for His glory.
* * *
How are you looking for Him afresh this season?
