I folded up the pair of pants and relunctantly set them on the counter with my other returns. There had been something about this pair of pants--green with embroidered blue whales--that I had loved from the first time I saw them, and when they hit the clearance rack, I bought them in a heartbeat. In fact, I had loved them so much I'd already decided that my family's Easter apparel would revolve around these adorable pants.

But now we weren't sure the money was available for new clothes. There linger some questions about taxes and how much we will owe, having lived in two different states last year and all. And there isn't a doubt in our minds that Daniel's trip to Spain this summer is a much more worthy use of money than building a fence or expanding our driveway or, most certainly, buying a pair of 3-6 month pants--no matter how cute they are.

Before we left for Pittsburgh I had purposed to return every single thing I had purchased. It didn't matter that the outfit for Bronwyn for her birthday this summer-- including pants and shirt and hair curlies and socks-- had only cost $12. It didn't matter that I had found bargain after bargain and was [theoretically] saving our family money. I knew the Lord was asking me, once again, if I love Him enough to give it all.

Even the green pants with embroidered blue whales.

So I gave the cashier the pants and humbly received my money in exchange. I walked out of the store, still wishing I might have found a way to justify keeping those pants, and all the while knowing He was trying to teach me a lesson through a very simple thing.

I didn't think about the pants or any of my returns again until, more than 48 hours later, when I was lifting the lid of the box two friends had handed me and I saw a pair of pants--green with embroidered blue whales-- exactly like the ones I had just returned two days prior-- tucked inside, along with a matching shirt. They had, unknowingly, days (maybe weeks?) before bought Jackson those pants as a gift.

And I knew, once again, that I can never, ever, ever outgive my God.