Timing

Timing matters.

If you’ve learned about your dream job opening up at your dream company the day after the position closed, you know about timing.

Or imagine this. You’re prancing around your house, veering toward the door to go to work, and you trip over your affectionate calico and knock over a vase of flowers on your table. The mess takes six minutes to clean up.

Then you finally head out, drive several blocks to the main thoroughfare en route to your workplace, and come upon an accident where police cars and ambulances are just arriving.

You sense in your spirit that you’ve been spared. And you praise God. Or honestly, maybe you don’t make the connection. Sometimes we miss it, even seasoned believers can.

On Friday, I was zipping out of our little, quiet town to run some errands, and on the way met my oldest daughter driving home from class. She motioned to me, and we positioned our cars window-to-window on the quiet street, and agreed to go out and about together. God gave us a sweet afternoon together picking out a new dishwasher, selecting a wedding present, and buying groceries.

Neither she nor I planned it. God did, and we took Him up on His offer. Good timing, Lord.

We see God doing things with perfect timing a whole lot in Scripture.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 5:6 NIV

Sometimes, though, I whine, or wonder if I’m experiencing God’s discipline. I wish for the outcomes I would orchestrate on the day and time I would see them through. Yet, I still know it’s best that I let God be God. Nice of me, huh?

So, here are a few areas where I need to trust God’s wisdom and timing.

• In the passionate embrace of Jesus Christ for unsaved loved ones
• With the permanent, complete healing of my knees
• Over career paths as my life stage changes

Sometimes God gives us the grace and information that hindsight offers, and I testify today to some areas where He has blessed me and taught me about His timing.

• First pregnancy timing
• Vacation this year, with our departing D.C. a week prior to the earthquake and the hurricane
• Christian growth deepened across years of seeking Him

For these, I praise my God and Savior. Emphasis on Savior, because I ask, ‘Lord, just what did You save me from because of Your perfect timing?’

Today, I may not know. Perhaps in Heaven, He will share that. For now, I thank Him.

 Text and photo © Helene Bergren 2011. All rights reserved.