It happened again.
There I was sitting under the shade of an umbrella, on the other side of the pool. It was the perfect place for relaxing and reading. There was a group of ladies on the far side, sitting in chairs that had been lined up for easier chit chat and laughing and visiting. I could not help but overhear some of their conversation since just as I do when I am with friends, the voices were sometimes raised and laughter rang out to my side of the deck. They were from somewhere in the midwestern USA and had come for a few days together. I watched them out of the corner of my eye. Suddenly, before you could say desert sun, they had moved to the pool steps in front of me and continued their conversation right under my nose. It became impossible to read. My eyes were glued to the pages but my ears heard all that was being said. They talked and I longed to jump in. Maybe I should have.
I didn’t
I listened and bit my tongue and thought so many thoughts.
There were seven of them and they were talking about “spirituality”. One had grown up in a denomination where she may have heard a few things about Jesus and another said she was sure she had been someone very different in her past life and another spoke knowingly about how Christians really truly believe that Jesus lived and was God and another said that she didn’t buy it and really as long as you think good things and want to be a good person, that is spiritual enough. Yet another said she didn’t believe in God at all, because how could God let such bad things happen in the World and these were all angles and arguments that I have heard before and I sat there and listened and thought
about
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (Living New Testament) Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.
No matter where I go or the setting I find myself in, there is so often talk of God.
My boy got married a week ago. He married the girl that God hand picked for him. I listened to these seven ladies talk
about chance and luck and the uncertainties of their lives. Worrying about children and wondering about the meaning of life. They talked all around the subject of the creator of their souls and could not find their way to the center of the target. The bulls eye. The axis. The pivot. The CornerStone. We could have had ourselves a big old evangelistic meeting then and there
if I had spoken up.
I didn’t and I thought about my boy and about his brother and his sister who stood and encouraged him just last weekend. I thought about the blessing of that evening 6 days ago and I was sad for these girls and so thankful on behalf of the children who married each other next to a mountain.
The girls will need to hear the message about
Jesus love for them
from someone other than me, because I won’t see them again in this life. I don’t know their names but God does. I missed a chance to tell them the truth and I wonder, if Billy Graham had been sitting there, or Elizabeth Elliot or Corrie Ten Boom or…
God knows these seven ladies because He made them. I will pray that He will make Himself known to them. Perhaps that was the purpose of plunking them down right in front of me. To remind me
yet again
that I can neither save souls or make people want a saved soul. That is God’s job. I can though, ask, that He clear their cloudy vision and give them eyes to see. Even if they are people who splash very briefly into my space, I can ask on their behalf.
I will and He will hear me.
Something else was revealed to me in this wedding week. It’s about friends and acquaintances and God’s gift of provision.
Thirty Two years ago I married a boy and came to a strange land. I have sometimes likened myself to Abraham’s Sarai because she did not know where she was going and who she would meet when she finally arrived. I prayed a prayer when I got to my new home and asked that God would give me ONE friend. Just one. I didn’t need more. One would be enough. Just someone to confide in and share my heart with. Just a girl, like myself, who loved Jesus and needed a friend.
As I mentioned at that wedding last week, I am often reminded of Paul’s words in Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
He brought people into my life and some of them He later removed. There were friends who were dear for a short while and some who became dearer over time. Friendships change and sometimes the ones we hold onto so very tightly end up being pried out of our grip.
You see,
being dependent upon people comes easy to me. Relying upon God is much more of a struggle.
Because He loves me and wants what’s best and worshiping people isn’t that
He begins the business of prying my fingers open and that is usually painful. He reminds me that although like minded friends are a gift, He has other people, sometimes strangers, for me to interact with who could benefit from a smile and a kind word. They may have insight for me.
I listened to those seven by the pool, their chatter and their discussion. They were friends and yet I wonder if, when they each get back to their own homes, their lives will be the richer for spending those days together.
I stood up in front of that relatively smallish group of wedding guests. I talked about the boy who had just gotten married and about the girl that I have prayed about for longer than she has been alive. I looked at those people sitting in chairs watching and smiling and I needed them to hear me. Not just my voice, the words. I spoke of learning to be a mother and wise counsel and making mistakes and growing in understanding of what makes life worth living. I talked about gratitude and not because life is perfect. Far from it. But in it’s imperfection there is beauty in relationships and friendships. Some old and some new.
As I prepared my speech for that evening I thought about the people who would be sitting there under the stars. Unfortunately not everybody I call friend, was there.
I reflected upon the people who have impacted my life.
I am sitting here now, alone in this desert place and my suitcase is packed and I am going home. Friends and family await me and I am blessed.
There are friends who make me laugh and friends who exhort me and others who mirror Jesus mercy and those who reflect beauty in their simplicity of living and those who challenge me and some who weep with me and some I see often and a few I see much less. My life is full of amazing friendships because of the people that God has placed strategically in my way.
I came to a place far from home, a lot of years ago, dragging my heals and God has blessed me abundantly. He continues to teach me about leaning in on Him and listening when He talks.
Romans 12:10 says
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor!