At the Proper Time

These are interesting days surrounding my small community of friends. Seems like I'm being constantly reminded by stories on blogs or the relentless weather that the line we walk remains fuzzy at best. Sometimes it disappeares altogether when the snow blows in.

One friend wrapped up five years of dedicated work and walked out the doors of her office into a world of uncertainty and unemployment. She believes the Father is faithful and will provide. In the meantime, finances are adjusted for the income that doesn't come from quiet days of sitting at home.

Other friends have spent weeks fighting discouragement as they have no choice but to surrender to unforgiving weather that has kept them from even beginning to harvest their fields. Just when it looks like the reaping can start, another round of rain settles in for a couple of days, and progress is delayed yet again.

My own life, as of late, is filled with ups and downs of unsuccessfully finding that right balance between career and calling. God is shaping and reforming my desires, and as He works, my focus turns toward giving and serving. But these are things that demand time I currently am unable to give, and progress feels at a standstill.

Tonight as I drove home from work, I looked between the snow not yet melted and the fields disappearing under standing water, beans and corn looking quite soggy and sad. I thought about my friends. One has a harvest and can't get to it. The other stands in the middle of a freshly plowed field, not yet green with the promise of a harvest to come. And me...I stand on an open road under cloudy skies, knowing from where I've come but unsure of how I'm supposed to get to what lies ahead.

I think of the different places each of us are in life.

And I'm reminded of a promise:

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. -Galatians 6:9

The storms of life are relentless. Just when we think the time to harvest has come, another storm passes through to muddy the ground and slow our progress. And it's hard to push forward.

But push forward we must, for we have a promise to hope for.

One day, at the right time, new life will spring forth around us.

The skies will clear.

The ground will become firm beneath us.

We will reap a harvest.