Christian Living

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I remember once, after a visit to see my mother-in-law in hospital, my young son saying to me:
“Mom, when is God going to make granny better?”
I remember also, my answer (which I had offered far too trippingly, I fear!):
“When he’s ready,” I said confidently, “Everything happens in God’s good time.”
Well – that was surely asking for it! You can imagine what came next:
“Mom – what is ‘God’s good time’?” my little son asked, tugging on my hand and jumping over the lines along the sidewalk.
Now this, I had to think about. God’s good time… Hm. Well…
“It’s like this, darling,” I said, “There’s God’s time and then there’s our time. You see, they’re two different things.”
“How are they different?” my small son asked, stepping around some discarded litter on the pavement. I bent to pick the litter up.
“Well, God’s time is much longer and isn’t hurried, like ours,” I explained, looking for a bin. “You see, God has huge, great plans that branch off in directions that we can’t even see. So we just have to trust that when God thinks it’s the right time, it is!”
“But why doesn’t God hurry?” piped up the little voice.
“Because… if you think about it, we only hurry because we’re late – because we’ve made mistakes in our plans, or things have gone wrong. Imagine – if we never made mistakes, we’d never have to hurry!” I offered, sounding quite pleased with myself for coming up with something which sounded so abundantly logical. Trust a child to discover my error, though!
“But if God loves grandma, then He’ll want her to get better quicker!” insisted my tiny inquisitor.
I dropped the litter in the bin and bought myself some time before answering.
“Yes, but the human body that God gave us, still needs God’s time to heal. Everything has its place in God’s scheme. …Maybe while Gran is getting better, she can rest a little and spend some extra time with God. She can talk with Him a little more – instead of rushing round and baking cakes and darning socks and things for all of us! But God’s also talking to us, darling,” I counselled gently. “He’s telling us to take more time to think about Gran and appreciate who she is and what she does for us. Sometimes when we’re sick, it’s like God is calling us. He wants our attention – he wants us to stop and listen, just to Him!”
My little son nodded his head.
“I get it,” he said, “So… God’s time is really our time, cos it’s time he gives to us!”
“Ummm, yes – yes, I guess so!” I answered. Wow! This little guy was going to grow up to be a philosopher, or something! He’d jumped right past me there!
God’s time is our time – you’d better believe it! It’s the time he gifts to us, even if the wrapping some days seems a little peculiar. So trust, that the next time you say – why can’t I seem to secure that job? Why can’t I understand that teen-ager of mine? Why won’t this leg hurry up and get better? Remember, you already know the answer – all of this will happen, in the Lord’s good time!

Laura Swindon-Ross ©2013

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