It was an easy mistake to make. I sat
in my car, eating my sandwich and engrossed in a good book while the
life in my battery slowly ebbed away.
It had been a rainy, foggy morning, the
kind of day that demanded driving with the lights on. When the sky
brightened later, I didn't think to turn them off. I went through the
drive-thru at McDonald's and then parked to eat in the lot; actions
that kept me from having to get out of the car, but that also kept
the door alarm from signaling that the lights were still on. It
wasn't till I was ready to move on and couldn't get the car to start
that I finally realized what I'd done.
It was a simple fix that day to call
Triple A, get a jump, and be on my way, but I know God well enough by
now to realize it wasn't just “one of those things” that happens
from time to time. Rather, it was a a forced delay to cause me to
question Him, listen to what He had to say, and think about some
things in a way maybe I hadn't considered enough of late.
What He spoke to me about that day was
waste. I whine about not having enough time for all that I
want to do, but the truth is that I throw time away in little chunks
all day long. And when I look back at the end of a week, a
year...perhaps a lifetime...I see large sections of each that went
missing because I didn't use what I'd been given appropriately.
Some of us find ourselves in a similar
“forced delay” that is likewise not of our choosing, held back
from the plans we had made perhaps by a consequence of some earlier
action, an illness, an infirmity, or the loss of someone dear to
us. While we normally consider such an interruption in a negative
context, a change in our perspective might bring about surprisingly
positive results. What if instead of being irritated and frustrated
by the turn of events, we became intrigued and fascinated
by what God might want to show us in this time that He couldn't
reveal to us any other way? We might find ourselves actually thanking
Him for doing so!
When the Triple A mechanic showed up to
jumpstart my car, his first action was to flip off the cover of the
battery, and we were both surprised at what was hiding underneath.
The severely corroded cell required a lot of time and several bottles
of cleaning solution before the terminals were clear enough to be
connected to the jumper cables. He warned me that if the car started
at all it would get me home but not much further than that; I needed
to replace the battery as soon as possible.
Perhaps God is using what we consider a
difficult time in our lives to likewise cause us to see what might
otherwise remain hidden from view, giving us a chance to check our
connections with Him, with friends, and with our families so we can
make corrections to the same while there is still time to do so. When
a battery reaches the end of its lifespan it is easily replaced. Not
so with our lifetimes; we only get one go at it. Face it, we're all
“terminal”...and if there's any amount of corrosion hanging about
our lives we need to clear it off so we can make the most of the time
and energy we have left. So let's not waste this moment; instead,
let's be grateful for a chance to review and re-evaluate how we're
living and loving today...because any tomorrows are not a given, but
a gift.
“He has made
everything beautiful in its time...”
(Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)
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