Over the years, standing at the sink many times each day, I’ve seen the most remarkable sights… all the changes each season brings. Through the years, I’ve become aware of what changes will come about in each of the different months. I look for what each new season brings–eagerly anticipating the blooms that will soon appear all over the yard… the tiny new, elegant leaves of the giant old weeping willow tree, the daffodils that will soon dance around the base of that old tree.
Today was no different, the familiar sights were there… the earth pounding with the shoots and buds of springtime… the flitting hummingbirds taking sips from any one of the many feeders around the house. I found myself wandering back in time when little ones played in the yard—little feet stretching out, reaching to the heavens with each pump of the swings, splashing in the pool, volleyballs flying back and forth over the net, buckets and shovels in the sandbox, doll strollers, matchbox cars, tonka trucks and scooters, bicycles and basket balls in the driveway, roller skates down the lane, rubber boots jumping in puddles, snow angels on the lawn. Days gone by. So many days gone by so fast. Sweeter days. But they really weren’t sweeter than these. Just like those days… these are the good old days.
As I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, I was singing as I often do… and I stopped, mid-verse, and thought: do I really live this? Is each day ♪ really like heaven to me? does my heart really ♪ overflow? does He really grow sweeter to me the longer ♪ I serve Him? I was stopped in my melancholy-baby tracks. I had to say: No. No, each day is not like heaven—-at least not like the heaven I’ve imagined the Lord preparing for us. No, I thought, my heart’s not overflowing with that sweetness today. My heart was full of anxious thoughts, discouragement, disappointment and even frustration at different situations over which I have no control and cannot see good as an outcome to some of them.
I worked along… and there I was singing again; ♪ every need He is supplying, plenteous grace He bestows, every day my way gets ♪ brighter, the longer I serve ♪ Him, the sweeter He grows… ♪ Wait… here comes that chorus again. I thought: I’ve gotta get my mind straight, if I’m going to sing this, I’m going to mean it and if I’m going to mean it, then I’ve got to live it, and if I’m going to live it, then I’ve got to turn some things around–or, rather, turn some things over to the Lord that I absolutely cannot take care of, handle, understand… or carry.
Are you there with me? Are you needing to hand Him your basket? If you are, I totally understand. And, in order that you’ll be able to press on, I’d really implore you to join me in just handing over that stuff… there’s nothing we can do about it all anyway, so handing it all over is really quite freeing. I came across a verse yesterday that says, “And it shall come to pass that before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” — Isaiah 65.24 Truly the Lord is our Jehovah Shammah — He is the Lord who hears — the Lord who is there.
I’m humbled again by the God who is already there… the God who hears me.
