I was just thinking about ...
God’s Timing
This
has been one crazy week! It all started last week when I was held up. No, no,
not by a man with a gun or wearing a mask. Nope, I was held up by my own
grandson. He wasn’t born yet. Melissa’s due date was the 24th of
February and here we are going into March with no peep from the little guy that
he’s ready to come forth. The whole week was a 24-hour alert. I carried my
cell phone with me everywhere and was constantly checking the battery charge
level. No, nothing wrong with the phone, just with the baby.
We made it through the week all right, and the congregation understood
my being a bit absent-minded during services on Sunday. But then came Monday. If
Dylan hadn’t decided to come out yet, the doctor was going to help him decide.
So Kim (Mom/Nana) took Melissa to the Hospital at
Now the problem wasn’t that she could believe that
something hadn’t happened yet. Nor was it that I had lost her cell phone
number. The problem was that a seed had just been planted in me and was quickly
taking root. Yeah! Something should’ve happened by now. Why isn’t Kim
calling me? Is something wrong… with Melissa, Dylan, both? I thought maybe I
should go on to the hospital. I want Melissa to know I care and want to be
around. Yet I also know she would be uncomfortable with me hanging around the
waiting room. Decisions, decisions, what should I do? About then the phone rang.
It was Kim, nothing much to report. Yes, she is going into labor, but slowly. No
time frames were given, not even a guess. I’m sure I heard one of the nurses
chuckle in the background when Kim asked for me. “Grandpas, sheesh!” Well,
maybe not a nurse, maybe it was God laughing at me. Can’t say as I blame God.
We humans do get in a panic quickly.
I was to
be a grandfather soon. And though I’ve been through this with my three
children a few years back, all of my patience and experience flew out the window
in a heartbeat. And in flew worries, fears and anxiety in abundance. Thank
goodness God let me take a good look at myself starting to fret. I started to
laugh at myself and thought, “God’s in control of this. Dylan will be born
when it’s time.” Dylan Matthew Goforth made his debut in this world a few
hours later at 6:00 pm, 03/03/03, weighing 7lbs, 7 ounces and 20.5 inches long.
He is very healthy, as is Melissa. God is good. That’s all I could think as I
held my first grandson in my arms. Ten fingers, ten toes, all the normal number
of appendages. He is perfect. And to think I was worried. What could I have done
about it if there was a problem… gotten in the way of the doctors?
You know, the scripture tells us that we can’t add
a minute to our life by worrying. In fact, with the studies on stress done by
the medical community, I’d say worrying can even take away from our life. The
scripture continues on with God having the numbers of hairs on our heads
counted. God knows when a bird falls from the sky. And if God is aware of these
miniscule things, don’t you think God also worries about supplying our needs?
Or Dylan’s needs? Or Melissa’s? And the timing…yep, God’s got that under
control also. It just didn’t happen to fit in with my idea of when Dylan
should have been here.
I just read a poem that reminded me of this. It’s
about a wise man who handed an impatient young man a rosebud and directed him to
open the rosebud without breaking any of the petals. The young man studied the
flower closely and fingered each petal gently and then offered back, “It’s
not possible. I will break any petal that I try to open.” The wiser man then
suggested to the man that it is because it doesn’t belong to us. It belongs to
God and it will open when God knows the time is right, and gently unfolds the
petals.
Drop
on by anytime, I'll be here and so will God,
Dennis