Today’s Readings: Psalm 37; Genesis 31:25-50; Luke 2:1-14; Acts 16:1-12
It seems to me as if my call this week is to explore my need for control from a variety of angles. Just yesterday, for instance, the Gospel passage called me to examine my need to have thought through everything completely before I ever take action. Today’s Gospel reading raised another issue related to my need for control. More specifically, it caused me to look at my assumption that there is a right and wrong time to do things. Having worked with people for years, I know I’m not alone in this. Folks will spend lots of time and energy trying to figure out “the right time” to do something. When they consider having children, for instance, they torture themselves examining their finances & job situation to see if it’s the right time to have a child. When people contemplate a job change, they explore economic indicators to see if the job market if healthy enough to accommodate their change. Even when it comes time for retirement, folks will agonize for months to determine whether or not they have enough in savings and whether or not their investments are doing well enough to allow for it. I could go on and on with the list. Today’s story of Jesus’ birth reminds me that one doesn’t always have to wait for “the right time”. For in Mary and Joseph’s case, you couldn’t have imagined a much worse time to have a child. Here Mary and Joseph are – a young couple just getting established who are called to leave the comforts of home and head to an unfamiliar city to participate in a census. I’m sure they poured every hope and prayer into asking that their baby’s arrival be put off until “the right time” when they can return home. And yet what happens? The child comes at perhaps the most inopportune time imaginable. The story challenges me to face the fact that often - due to our limited human perspective - our notions of “the right time” aren’t necessarily accurate. It reminds me once again of the difference between our time and God’s time. Today I would encourage us to look at our lives and see if there might be something we are putting off because we feel it isn’t “the right time”. Look at that decision with new eyes and see what amazing things might be birthed in our lives if we step out in faith and trust things to work out not in our time but in God’s. Til next time…
It seems to me as if my call this week is to explore my need for control from a variety of angles. Just yesterday, for instance, the Gospel passage called me to examine my need to have thought through everything completely before I ever take action. Today’s Gospel reading raised another issue related to my need for control. More specifically, it caused me to look at my assumption that there is a right and wrong time to do things. Having worked with people for years, I know I’m not alone in this. Folks will spend lots of time and energy trying to figure out “the right time” to do something. When they consider having children, for instance, they torture themselves examining their finances & job situation to see if it’s the right time to have a child. When people contemplate a job change, they explore economic indicators to see if the job market if healthy enough to accommodate their change. Even when it comes time for retirement, folks will agonize for months to determine whether or not they have enough in savings and whether or not their investments are doing well enough to allow for it. I could go on and on with the list. Today’s story of Jesus’ birth reminds me that one doesn’t always have to wait for “the right time”. For in Mary and Joseph’s case, you couldn’t have imagined a much worse time to have a child. Here Mary and Joseph are – a young couple just getting established who are called to leave the comforts of home and head to an unfamiliar city to participate in a census. I’m sure they poured every hope and prayer into asking that their baby’s arrival be put off until “the right time” when they can return home. And yet what happens? The child comes at perhaps the most inopportune time imaginable. The story challenges me to face the fact that often - due to our limited human perspective - our notions of “the right time” aren’t necessarily accurate. It reminds me once again of the difference between our time and God’s time. Today I would encourage us to look at our lives and see if there might be something we are putting off because we feel it isn’t “the right time”. Look at that decision with new eyes and see what amazing things might be birthed in our lives if we step out in faith and trust things to work out not in our time but in God’s. Til next time…
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