Dear Bethel Family,
A photo of Angelynna (our daughter-in-law) with one of our grandsons popped up in my memories this week, and I instantly got a little emotional. Of course, I had to send it to her. And she said, “I miss when they were little.” Pause. Gulp. And then she added, “It’s maddening how much you don’t get to enjoy it like you wish in the moment.”
I knew exactly what she meant. Probably most of us can think of times we wish we had slowed down, appreciated more, or tried to figure out how to bottle the moment up! After I tried to share how much I see she and Brandyn showing up for their boys I said, “One day you’ll miss today too.” I think that was the Holy Spirit speaking to me in that moment.
School has ended (finally for the Fargo kids!!), some of our littles have grown up and walked across the stage, and summer schedules are here. Life just continues to change. How easy it is to live in the past or rush ahead to the future? But God’s Word continually calls us back to trust Him in the present.
Proverbs 16:9 says, The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
I think part of what makes Angelynna’s comment so relatable is that most of us know the feeling. We look back and wish we had appreciated a season more while we were living it. We see things more clearly in the rearview mirror than we do in the moment.
Maybe that’s why this verse is such a comfort. We do make plans. We have ideas about how life should go and what we hope the future will hold. But our lives are not ultimately resting on our ability to get everything right. The Lord is establishing our steps.
That doesn’t mean we will always understand what He is doing. Sometimes His ways are confusing and some circumstances are genuinely hard. But Jesus continually invites us to abide in Him. To trust Him in what is clear and what is not. To receive from Him all He has for us.
And then, as Elizabeth Elliott would often say, “Do the next thing.” Not because the next thing is always exciting or significant, but because the faith God is producing in us is often found in the mundane. So, abide in Christ.
Receive what He has for you today. Then take the next step He has placed before you, trusting that the Lord who holds your future is present in this moment as well.
My favorite pastor is preaching this Sunday after his two-month sabbatical. We have missed our Bethel family and can’t wait to get back!
–Loree Veith