Dear Friends,

I used to believe that I would arrive at the “next stage” of life and things would suddenly fall into place. Plans would move forward unhindered, life would contain margin, relationships would not be difficult anymore, etc. As a 69-year-old man, I can confidently say that the “next stage” has never arrived, and that I am thankful to God for each waylaid plan, each busy season, and each difficulty in relationship. He has worked in my life through each interruption and frustrating circumstance. I no longer anticipate that sudden calm will appear around the next bend of life.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.” I love this verse because it reminds me of two things. First of all, it reminds me that the reason my heart longs for something else is because this temporal earth is not my heart’s home. God made me for eternity, and I will always have a longing to be “home” while I am on this earth. Secondly, I love this verse because it points me back to God’s sovereignty and His good purposes. He weaves the story of humanity through individual lives and over segments of time. Only He can see the full picture, and only He can do what is ultimately good for me and for His other children. I can trust Him, because He is good, and because He can both control and see that which I cannot envision or manage. 

May we each be alive to the opportunities and interruptions that God brings our way, trusting that He knows us better than we know ourselves. 

Blessings,

Ron