In Praise of Houseflies: An Introduction

Credit: Tom Barrett on Unsplash

A storm spins through town. Winds peel roofing off my Grandma’s retirement home, apartments flood, bed sheets soak. Our windows frame impressionist tableaux of ghoulish oaks dancing to thunder-rhythm and lightning-stroke. My husband gathers our sleeping son and we slip to the chill basement. 

Here—this concrete floor flecked in shed exoskeletons—is holy ground.

Here—amid the unexpected dark—gifts glimmer.

Here.

My senses attune. Expectant, I spot glints like fireflies on a summer evening: My son asleep like Jesus boat-rocked in the storm. Our shoulders warm in blankets. Mothers from church weaving a web of text messages: we are praying for you by name—just checked on the widows and they’re ok—are you ok?—we’re ok. The next day, a nearby church friend offering to refrigerate our perishables while we wait without power. Neighbors talking to neighbors. Kids playing in the street. 

Glimmers.

 The heart of my upcoming book In Praise of Houseflies: Meditations on the Gifts in Everyday Quandaries (Calla Press) is to practice cultivating eyes for such divine graces gleaming in the thick of daily difficulties. Leading up to the book’s August release, I’ll be sharing a new blog series: “In Praise of Houseflies.” Each monthly reflection will be an exercise in practicing fresh vision for the gifts of God in everyday challenges—from a sprained back to a broken dryer, from rejection to the silence of God. They will be messages of hope, joy, and redemption imparted through deep, nourishing meditation. 

My prayer is that these reflections will help us listen to what ordinary inconveniences and challenges can teach and to delight in the multitudinous graces that blossom within them. To cultivate eyes for the divine in our own daily lives—traffic jams, canceled parties, lingering colds: all those annoying, redemptive houseflies.

I hope you will join me on the journey!