For everything there is a season. This truth has been a lifelong teacher, many times pulling unwelcome tears from of the depths of my soul. Then there have been other times when a closing season was finalized with a shout of “Hallelujah and Praise the Lord that’s over!”
As the seasons linger, then ebb and flow like the tides of some blue ocean of which the depths have never been measured, so there is found the God of Time through Whom the very essence of time is defined, yet remaining outside of its bounds. If His thousand years are but a day and a day a thousand years, our finite pathways can cope with grief and loss, understand creation, and rejoice in a job well done. When the time is set, the earth moves. Our very foundation is rocked. Seeds planted become yesteryears’ harvests as we reflect upon our personal “why” statement in search of our true purpose in this seventy years.
I made a friend once on the other side of opposing political views expressed so strongly in the context of a public forum that her Mama called her to tell her to contact me and make things right again. She listened to her Mama and we talked again. Because of our respective relationships with the God we both love, we found not only common ground, but a lifetime love for one another. That was years ago. Since that time, she has risen up to become a Senator where I visit her season in and out. We have the same routine: hugs, visit, and a quick pic to remember our times.
One particular day, I was sitting on a couch in the back of the particular Senate chamber waiting to see my friend when The God of Time showed up. This story takes me back to 20 years prior when I was a young Mama with a part-time job in my church’s daycare. Why the Lord would have assigned me to “the baby room” was beyond me, since I was already up to my elbows in diapers and nighttime feedings at home. Since that time, there has been so much fruit from a mere season of touching little ones with no ability to do anything other than smile, coo, and sometimes bite other children. That’s when it was time for them to graduate to the next class!
Located in the Capitol City, I accepted many babies from the arms of legislators returning to work following maternity leave. As every parent knows, but especially Mamas returning to work, the task of turning over a baby to someone for the first time is only the beginning of the parental letting go boot camp that keeps you in crying college until empty nest acceptance sets in and you take over their room for your new hobby.
As I waited for my Senator friend these 20 years later, I also saw her colleague nearby and inquired about his children. I asked him to refresh my memory. “I’m trying to remember–do you have a son named Silas? When he saw no, he began to remind me about his children who had been my bed babies at the daycare. My old friend was now sitting with me on the couch when I heard her ask a young page where he was going and who he was looking for as he had stepped onto the floor to deliver a note. He said actually he was looking for her.
When I read his name tag I recognized not only his first and last name but his eyes and the structure of his face. It was the actual Silas I had inquired about only seconds before in a random meeting with a random inquiry. Silas was one of my bed babies from almost 20 years ago. His Dad who would drop him off to me, worked for the Senator I had just spoken with. I asked him who his parents were, if he was born in 2002, and other particulars. Then I grabbed his arm in shock and with a heart so moved I couldn’t believe it. “Silas!” I said, with him having no idea why I was gazing at him, lovingly, like I knew him. Mainly, because once upon a time I did! We proceeded to visit for a while.
My day was an incredible day, but this one divine moment is one I will count in my top memories of a lifetime. Right place, right time. The Lord is the God of the days, the seasons, the years. Although we may not be in our best or favorite or most important season, with the Lord nothing is wasted. When we are chasing our purpose in the midst of uncertainty, the God that transcends time reaches in and says, “Girl…I got you!”
The work we do unto the Lord shall not return void, though the seasons will change. He is still the Lord your God of past, present, and future. Seeing this once skinny baby I held in my arms for a period of my life blessed me while on my visit to an old friend that would have never happened without that once fiery debate over something we can no longer remember. I may not remember the debate, but I’ll never forget those eyes and face of that little one. Today, Silas is formidable, handsome, and articulate. I must have whispered some good things in that baby’s ear all those many years ago!
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