Impecable Timing

I can't help but admire good timing. In jokes, commercials, music, the internal combustion engine. There's no substitute for great timing. Have you ever considered God's timing? I mean, He's never late and rarely early (according to my expectations). He's always right on time. Yet the back-story is often even more intriguing. "Let me s'plain; no, there is too much, let me sum up":

Recently, I have come into a new-found settledness in life. I'm sure many factors are at play, but not the least of which is a marital book my wife and I have been reading at over the last year. You know, it's one of those "good things we need to do" that gets marginalized by real life so it takes an eternity to plow through. After some frank encouragement by my wife the other day that my life priorities were - once again - out of whack, I picked up the book again, mostly to prove her wrong...and say I'd read more than she had.

What I read was a mirror of myself, a brutal spiritual autopsy that helped to tweeze the putrid motivations of my heart from the candy wrappers I conceal them in. In that exam, I found the only thing within me worth holding onto was Christ Himself.

In that conclusion came release. Peace and contentedness. I don't have to measure up, I just have to move aside. I don't need to search for the next fix, I just need to seek His face. I don't need to constantly be searching "over there" for His perfect-er will, when Life - with a capitol "L" is "right here, right now" (to quote a little Van Halen...or U2...or Fatboy Slim).

I couldn't have known how perfect the timing would be. 24 hours later I had an epiphany, of which I've previously written. And in another 24 hours I stepped into a situation which would have boiled my blood and incited me to "spittin' tacks," as my mother would say. But that day, I was in His peace. I didn't retaliate. I didn't have to suppress my temper, it wasn't at play. It was as though the Prince of Peace had taken up residence within me. He had.

What timing! What if my wife hadn't chided me to prioritize? What if I hadn't responded by diving back into the book? What if I'd gone to bed instead of contemplatively to the moonlight the next night? What if, over a year ago, my mother hadn't of sent us that book? What if she hadn't attended the conference where this author was speaking 18 months ago and purchased it? What if the author hadn't committed to take the speaking engagement 2 years ago? What if he hadn't published the book 8 years ago?

Do I mean to suggest that God's has had plans in the works to affect His changes in our hearts for days, months, years and even decades before we see the fruit of them in our lives?

Yep.

Galatians 4:3-5 says, "In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons."

Impeccable Timing.

Complex Simplicity

Did you notice how every new invention or innovation lauds it's own ability to bring profound simplicity into your life? Apparently, many of us are longing for that 'cuz we jump rather quickly onto that bus, only to find that this new-found "simplicity" will require X amount of hours to overcome the learning curve. By the time you feel you've garnered some elementary sense of mastery on the subject, the novelty has run it's course and been trumped by the next marketplace marvel promised to simplify your existence.

Why is simplicity so complex?

Somewhere along this endless road we wake up and realize we've lost any sense of life whatsoever. Adventure, awe, marvel, and delight are things we read to our children but rarely encounter ourselves anymore. There's just no time; I'm busy trying to simplify.

I'm sure we're not the first generation of people to fall prey to this distraction. In fact, I wonder if that's not why Jesus had to teach the way He did, "Consider the lilies..." "Consider the birds..." - I mean, did He really have to tell people to look at something they saw every single day as they bustled thru life?

Yep.

We just don't see it. We're too busy trying to simplify. I woke up the other day after a long day's work and an afternoon of family tasks, summer preparations and mutual nesting rituals in preparation for a new arrival. Exhausted, everyone else was in bed, I sat on the deck under a clear sky, beaming moon and twinkling stars, I woke up.

I realized I didn't have any reason why I shouldn't be completely content with my life. Not because I had mastered the latest widget, but because I find myself, despite my shortcomings and character flaws, in love with a God who loved me first and thought of me long before I ever thought of Him. One who blessed me with a loving family, quirks and all, and "gives us richly all things to enjoy" (I Tim 6:17).

I unearthed a paradox in my own heart and mind: the more I seek adventure and novelty, the less satisfied I am in my pursuit; but as I sow the seed of true simplicity, the adventure of it all overtakes me.