There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
There’s a time to move boldly ahead, and a time to pause and reflect on the path you’ve traveled.
In seven days our team will gather to begin the tour.
The heavy lifting’s mostly complete, and we have a few days to iron out remaining details. It’s a good time to stop, before the craziness commences, and examine the arc of the story God’s helping us write through this project.
We began months ago, casting a vision for ourselves and then to an expanding circle of potential participants. Some jumped in immediately, others hung at the edges awhile. A few hovered, flirted, and left. Some folks joined us, got excited, and had to drop out because life intervened.
Sponsors caught the vision. It’s really fun to pitch this idea and see that look that says “I don’t get it” and watch the excitement build as the picture comes into focus.
Like any long-term enterprise, we couldn’t have predicted how this would happen–the people we’d meet, the disappointments, dead ends, and unexpected wins. To me, that’s why this time to reflect is so valuable.
If you look at where you are, it often doesn’t make much sense. But when you look back, sometimes you get a different perspective. You can see the arc of God’s hand at work over a longer period of time and the ripple effects of some event that seemed insignificant, but wasn’t.
Reflection won’t fill in all the details. God’s time frame is often longer than a few months.
But it settles me to look back and see His hand in what seemed at the time like meaningless chaos. He always keeps His promises. He always causes everything to work for good.
In these moments of reflection, I’m reminded to be grateful.
Are things feeling a bit chaotic?
Perhaps a cup of coffee and a little reflection might add some clarity.
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