Advent Reflection | Saturday, December 19
Today’s A Weary World Rejoices story comes from Diane Kohrs:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” – James 4:13-15
A year ago, Rick and I were starting to get used to being “empty-nesters” when our newly married son Mitchell asked if he and his wife Nina could move in with us for a little while. They were due to have a baby in February and Mitchell’s job was transferring to Madison. The plan was for them to live with us while they saved up for their own place. We agreed easily.
That’s not to say it was an easy transition. What would it be like to have the house full again? With a baby? It had been 23 years since we’d had a baby in the house!
I imagine they had thoughts of their own.
Are we imposing?
Will we have privacy? What if the baby screams all night? (That one may have been a shared concern, LOL.)
To help, we talked over expectations and made some adjustments. Furniture was moved, sliding doors got put in, pantry and kitchen cabinets were rearranged. Rooms were claimed and repainted.
And just as we were settling in, baby Dean arrived (6 weeks early). Then the pandemic.
Mitchell was furloughed. Rick and I moved our offices into our now-full house. More furniture moving, upstairs fans doubled as white noise machines, and work breaks were less “talk with your colleagues” and more “rock the baby” time.
Did all the adjustments we had been making help to prepare us for so much more adjusting?
Cassie’s wedding was reduced in attendance but retained the love and joy. Now we see family and friends with masks and distanced, or via phone or video calls.
At some point, I started to lean into this skid, this new way of living. Not to say it’s been all sunshine, there have been storms. But I keep looking for the rainbows, God’s promises.
The saying, “We make plans, God laughs” is a short form of the verse above, and I can totally relate.
You do not even know what tomorrow will bring. I have hopes and dreams for what is coming. And while I wait for what comes, I am enjoying the unexpected blessings of this time. And our God is with us through it all. Amen.
James 4:13-15
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.”
