Monday, August 21, 2006

God's Layout for the Hour


I am reading a book about Frank Laubach and Brother Lawrence; two men who strove to walk in the awareness of the presence of Christ. I ran across these two journal entries, written by Laubach, a missionary in the Philippines. Both thoughts spoke to me and it is no accident that I "chanced" to read them today!

August 21, 1930
I shall be forty-six in two weeks. I no longer have the sense that life is all before me, as I had a few years ago. Some of it is behind--and a miserable poor part it is, so far below what I had dreamed that I dare not even think of it. Nor dare I think much of the future. This present, if it is full of God, is the only refuge I have from poisonous disappointment and even almost rebellion against God.

January 2, 1932
I resolve to accept each situation of this year as God's layout for that hour, and never to lament that it is a very commonplace or disappointing task. One can pour something divine into every situation.


Today is my birthday (a few more candles than Laubach), and instead of getting to relax with our children, and garden as I had hoped, we spent a couple of hours hoping to retrieve our "dead" car and bring it home. God had different plans for us. We weren't successful in bringing the car home, but I had the opportunity to spend those hours with my mom as she joyfully recounted some of the circumstances surrounding my birth.

Thank you God for my precious mother, and thank you for unexpected time spent with loved ones.

1 comment:

Deb said...

Note from Deb:
God is so gracious. Our car is running, thanks to a series of miracles.