Hash Browns and Parking Spaces
Finding small blessings in unexpected places.
I’ve always found Tuesdays to be a bit… awkward. Mondays carry their own kind of momentum – that fresh-start feeling of getting things done, however fleeting it may be. But Tuesdays? Tuesdays feel like the real start of the week. The come-down from the weekend. The not-quite-anywhere-yet. The first chapter written, but with the overwhelm of many more to go.
This morning, I woke up with that familiar Tuesday feeling – a little grey around the edges, the quiet hum of overwhelm. I’m not sure if it’s just the shape of the week or something deeper – that sense that life doesn’t always move as fast as we’d like. That maybe some days aren’t meant to feel bright and certain.
I don’t know.
But even as I write this, there’s a small comfort in the air fryer – hash browns sizzling away, turning crisp and golden. It’s a simple thing, really, but enough to lift my spirits a little. And outside, I found a parking space right by my door. In a street where that never seems to happen, it felt like a small nod from the universe, or maybe from God, a little blessing tucked into an otherwise forgettable day.
These things – hash browns and parking spaces – they’re not the stuff of grand spiritual insight. But they matter. Because sometimes it’s the small, almost invisible joys that remind me I’m still held and still seen.
I think of Jon Guerra’s song, I See the Birds. It’s been on my mind a lot lately – that imagery in Matthew 6 of birds flying in the sky, seemingly without a care in the world. They eat, though they’ve never sown; they drink, though they haven’t stored up water. Jesus tells us – aren’t we more valuable than birds?
Jesus calls us to see them, to lift our eyes from the grey to their unburdened flight. To remember that we are held by the same Father who holds them. That in the quiet, small moments of life – hash browns and parking spaces – God is there, providing in ways almost overlooked.
I’ve been thinking a lot about that – how faith so often meets us in the quiet, in the overlooked. The simple assurance that God sees and cares for all of it – and if He tends to the smallest details of creation, then surely He tends to us too.
Sometimes, it feels overwhelming – like God doesn’t see us or hear us or even exist. But then I think of the hash browns and the parking spaces. The ordinary, everyday things we take for granted but maybe, just maybe, are God’s way of saying, “I see you. I know you’re not feeling great today, but I’m here for you.” And perhaps it is in the small moments – the ones that don’t demand notice but bring quiet joy – that God shows us His love.
Because His love can be the mighty roar of a lion (I think of Aslan*), but also soft, gentle, patient – waiting to be noticed.
So here’s to hash browns and parking spaces. Here’s to the small joys that catch us off guard and ground us in the here and now. Here’s to paying attention, even on the days that feel flat or heavy. Because in the noticing, there is grace. In the paying attention, there is presence.
This is what A Curious Follower is about, really – learning to see the Kingdom in the small things. Learning to be curious enough to notice the way God shows up in the unremarkable moments. It’s not about turning hash browns into some deep metaphor, but about seeing them for what they are – small blessings, bright threads woven into the quiet fabric of our days.
So if you’re feeling a bit grey today – if your Tuesday feels like mine – may you find a hash brown moment of your own. May you see the small mercies waiting in the ordinary. And may you know that even here, in the simple and the small, you are deeply loved.
Josh | A Curious Follower
Before you scroll on…
Notice one small thing today – something gentle, something that grounds you, something that reminds you that you are seen. There’s no pressure to share it, no need to make it profound (mine is hash browns!) – just an invitation to notice. To pause. To let the small blessings be enough.
If this resonates with you – if you’re noticing your own small blessings today – feel free to share them in the comments. If this stirred something in you – if you, too, want to follow with curiosity – you can subscribe, share, or simply keep coming back. There’s no pressure. Just permission.
*Aslan from C.S. Lewis’ books turned films – The Chronicles of Narnia.