Tomorrow is the halfway point to Christmas. Six months since the last one, and six months until the next one. It is also our granddaughter Olly's birthday. The priciest gift I gave last Christmas was not even under the tree. It was a subscription to a monthly activity created by Mark Rober of Glitterbomb fame. The recipient was Olly, and also her Uncle Zack, who helps her build them. 

This week they teamed up to make a prank. A half rainbow ball is inside a wooden box which is held together with dove tails and rubber bands. But since the ball is glued to a mirror, it appears to both be fully round and suspended in midair. Looking through the window is enough to convince anyone of those facts. Olly, who is in the know, then invited me and her mom to slide a few shiny coins into the box. Yet, since they fall behind the mirror, they are invisible. Olly then told us to open the wall of the box, using a handy knob for this purpose. Her mom and I were both surprised to find not coins, but a wiggly black spider jumping out at us. 

Everyone laughed. 

The reason the prank works, is because of expectations. We assume a ball will be round, not chopped in half. We expect it to have support from something we can identify. Dropping coins through a slot usually results in watching them fall. We are not anticipating an arachnid. 

While I would hesitate to call God a prankster, unpredictable events show up pretty often. I wasn't expecting twins until I knew I was expecting them.  My adult kids have pursued careers I never guessed. There were scary things that jumped out at me, some of which turned out to be harmless. 

And God's timing often makes me laugh.