Hi there,
Not much longer until the election. Is everyone hanging in there? Should I wear my Johnny Cash t-shirt (under a blazer) to work the polls this year? It says “I Walk the Line.” This is not a political statement, but people are eager to misinterpret.
I will probably chicken out and wear something boring and professional, like my Larry Bird shirt.
The Part Where There’s an Essay: A Time to…Wait
There is an occasion for everything,
and a time for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to give birth and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to uproot;
3 a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to tear down and a time to build;
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance;
5 a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing;
6 a time to search and a time to count as lost;
a time to keep and a time to throw away;
7 a time to tear and a time to sew;
a time to be silent and a time to speak;
8 a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3, CSB
This fall I’ve been planting every chance I get. In North Carolina, fall is the best planting time. The soil is still warm enough for the roots to grow and get established, and the scorching heat of summer is long gone. Plants have a good amount of time to settle in at this time of year. Once the fall planting season is over, we usually have a good amount of rain over the winter. All together, this makes for a happy plant come springtime.
To my family’s amusement, bossy boxes keep arriving on the front steps this month. They bear strict instructions like DO NOT DROP. OPEN IMMEDIATELY. LIVE PLANTS, they shout.
Then there are the bulbs. When those boxes come, I dutifully march out to the garage and put them in the fridge drawer. Because it doesn’t get quite cold enough here for most bulbs—especially the fussy ones, I’m looking at you, tulips—I have to trick them into “thinking” it’s winter for a while. Once they have been asleep in the fridge for a while, I’ll put them in the ground and allow them to experience our seasons.
While the cycle of “a time to plant” and “a time to uproot” is easy to understand and apply in a Christian’s life, there is a time that’s not mentioned here: preparation. Bulbs are not always ready to go in the ground. What’s more, the soil is not always ready to receive it.
We undertook a project to remake our garden about five years ago now. But for most of that time, I’ve been waiting to plant. There are many reasons for this: some budgetary, some practical. We haven’t always had the time or money to move ahead with some things. So we have waited. While we have done so, something notable has happened.
Put simply, the dirt has improved. When we moved into this house ten years ago, there was weed-suppressing black plastic covering a good part of the front yard, covered in a shallow layer of leaves. The dirt underneath was stout red clay. Little by little, I’ve pulled it back and thrown it out. In its place, the leaves have been allowed to sit and degrade. And now in the same part of the yard, we have some decent topsoil filled with happy earthworms. All I did was wait and let things sit still for a while.
Over the past few weeks, I have had multiple conversations with people—men and women, single and married, parents and childless—who are in exactly this season. They are sitting still, but they are wondering if they should be. What is God doing, exactly? Why do they feel restless? Are they where they ought to be? Why is it so uncomfortable?
In addition to seasons for planting and uprooting, there are also seasons for waiting. For preparing the soil for the next season of growth.
We make this waiting and preparation harder for ourselves when we succumb to the modern world of metrics. We want to be able to mark off our progress; we desire defined seasons and demarcations. What use is a season where there are no checkmarks of advancement? Are we really growing then?
Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:8-9
Peter here is writing to a persecuted church. They desire justice; they are impatient for God to get moving. Peter kindly (“dear friends”) sympathizes and reminds them of God’s relationship to time. He operates differently, remember? One day is a thousand years, and vice versa. He is not panicked or asking questions in a season of waiting. He is present, and His wisdom has landed you here.
Rest, and let time do its good work.
For the Anglophiles
The producers of the Paddington movies asked for a replica British passport, but it turns out they got a real one. "You wouldn’t think the Home Office would have a sense of humour, but under official observations, they've just listed him as Bear….”
Reads & Listens of the Week
I was encouraged by this conversation from TGC: Men and Women Must Labor Together for the Good of the Church.
Dadville did their origin story this week, and it ended up being a celebration of Billy Joel, community, and Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” (There were a few instances of language from the host.) Here are the instrumental albums mentioned—these are so beautiful!
Is Flannery O’Connor Funny? Well? What do you think?
For the people who write, sing, compose or just love all those things: Lin-Manuel Miranda talked to Mike Birbiglia this week. There is some good wisdom about persevering in “finding your voice” here. (language warning)
…the dangerous thing about pragmatism is that it does not necessarily reject the truth; it merely renders it subordinate to the desired end. - Carl Trueman, Fools Rush in Where Monkeys Fear to Tread