Just In Time

The scarf is in the mail. Is it late? Oh, yeah, but it's on its way.

I could ramble on about the relief I feel. It's done. The labor of love is finished.

Yet, I can't helping thinking about what it must be like for God in Heaven, waiting until just the right time to give us His gifts. Of course, he can snap his fingers and get anything ready in a moment or a day. I don't know what time is like for God, but I do know this, we are supposed to wait. Have you ever gone on Crosswalk.com’s Bible Search engine ? Try it. Type in the word “wait” or “patience”. We are told to wait on the Lord a lot.

Waiting well is a virtue. Think about it, what tops the list among the fruit of the spirit? What’s first in the definition of love? How many great men of the Bible - Moses, Joseph, Abraham, David - to name a few, had to wait on God? Yet, for mere mortals, waiting is seldom easy.

My girlfriend, born and raised in the deep South, has a way with words and she quipped recently, after she had gone through one heck of a long trial, that she was sure glad God took the time to take away all the rhinestones in her life. She is happy that the counterfeit things of this world were removed. She is grateful that the good Lord took his good sweet time to lay out the black velvet, empty, nothing, a blank canvas, so that when He put the diamond there, she'd be able to see it for what it was!

Isn’t she cool? Isn't she amazing? And she meant it! Oh, to have a faith like that. To see with human eyes all that God might have planned. To be willing to wait and wait some more. We are a ‘want it now’ society. We are a ‘want it now’ world. We can not delay our gratification. We lack patience. Me, most of all. I can't even knit a scarf without whining about how long it takes.

I just sent my sister a scarf and now I am trusting that it wasn't late one day. Not really. Not if God is sovereign. Now, don't get me wrong, it's a good thing to be On Time, but in God's economy, He is never late. None of His gifts are. Isn't it a good thing to wait for God's plans and not try to force our own? Joe likes to say that God is in the business of the “Just In Time” delivery.

What are you waiting for?

Enslaved by a Cableknit Scarf

I love my sister, but she does not read my blog. I can use this venue to chat about her or even gossip. I hope not.

I love my sister, yet we are not close in personality type. I am the first child, she the very, very last. Psychologically, we are only children who grew up together.

I love my sister, and she is 6 months overdue in sending my birthday present. She is a month late in sending my Christmas present. None of my children have received anything from her in months and months.

So why am I going crazy about this scarf?

The cableknit scarf looks great. It’s not perfect, but it’s my first one and I am so proud. But, I am also sick and tired of knitting it. I have a short attention span. I admit it. I want fast projects, because I can not stand, CAN NOT STAND, not finishing what I start. Cableknitting on skinny needles is kinda slow. There is this inner drive that compels me to at least do what I said. I may not do it well, which also drives me nuts, but I will, I promise, do what I said. Even the promises I make to myself. I keep them. I am trustworthy.

This would be a great quality and perhaps, in general, it is a virtue. However, at this time, this afternoon, when I should be knitting that cableknit scarf, I can’t make myself do it. It needs to be in the mail 7 days from today to get there on time. It doesn’t bother me that SHE is late in every gift giving occasion. No. That’s fully her perogative. No skin off my nose. Doesn’t bother me. It’s just that I want to be ON TIME for her birthday.

And I don’t want to knit that cableknit scarf!

Are there cableknit elves who will come to my house at night and knit a few rows like the Shoemakery Cobbler had? Wouldn’t it be lovely to waken in the morning and unroll it and find it inches longer? I’d take out the measuring tape each day and find it was nearing the 48” mark... oh, the thought!

I can hear one friend’s voice in my head, “Chill out.”

I can hear another friend say, “So, don’t do it. Give it to her next year.”

Yet another friend will say, “Here. I’ll take your kids. You turn on the stereo or a girly movie and have a great day finishing the scarf.”

I don’t need help. I just need to choose. I let the burden overwhelm me. I let the thing rule over me. I let guilt plague me. And it is just a scarf! A scarf! A gift filled with thought and love that has no timeline on it. How many other things in my life do I let get the better of me? How many other “scarves” are on my schedule that are making me crazy because I can’t see how they fit in to the bigger scheme. Why am I like this?

A man is a slave to whatever has mastered him - 2Peter 2:19

What dumb things get the better of you?

How Sweet It Is

10 Sweet Things About Being on Vacation
10. Zinger Trifle
9. Twinkies
8. Pop Tarts of every flavor
7. Pop Tart Cake made with Funfetti and Fudge
6. Chips, Cheetos and FunYu(e)ns
(it was sweet to engage in a little salty on vacation!)
5. Peanut Butter Cookies
4. Oatmeal Cookies with golden raisins
3. Birthday Cake
2. Prindables Sweetly Covered Apples and
1. Lots of Sweet Fellowship!


Wikipedia states, “The chemosensory basis for detecting sweetness, which varies among both individuals and species, has only been teased apart in recent years. The current theoretical model is the multipoint attachment theory, which involves multiple binding sites between sweetness receptor and the sweet substance itself.”

Ha ha ha! Well, I know some of the sweetest people alive with whom I would share something sweet in a minute. I’ve gone through my salty phases, and technically, I am a salty - but there is something sweet that often takes the edge off. In high school, my friend, Megan, was my greatest comforter. She makes the most amazing wontons. Garlic. Soy Sauce. Divine. However, I am sure there were M&M’s involved on some of those salty occasions and I know we drank way too much Pepsi. So it is with friends. They provide lots of opportunity for "multipoint attachment".

When you can, you indulge. You indulge in laughter. You indulge in sharing. You indulge in silliness or song. On this last vacation, we indulged and made it our goal to indulge. Most of all, we indulged in EACH OTHER. We attached ourselves to "multiple binding sites", I guess. My sweetness receptor was on overload and I loved every sweet minute. Friends are the sweetness of life. Watch, and you’ll see what I mean. It is so sweet to be loved by all of you.....