“And immediately they left their nets and followed him” (Mark 1:18 ESV).
This week was a week of firsts for me. I started a new job as a library secretary (assistant to the librarian) at a local middle school. We also decided to attend a new church in person yesterday for the first time. Additionally, I made my very first successful quiche! I know that may not seem like a big accomplishment to you, but quiche is something I’ve struggled with for a long time. My quiches always turned out more like baked omelets with a soggy crust than a delightfully creamy custard. And my last first for this week was my lack of preparing a Sabbath Thought in time which I have done since COVID hit in March.
So what happened? Well it started with an unexpected gift. Although this was my first week at work, I ended up with a day and a half of additional paid time off! Last Tuesday, I had the whole day to myself, however I did not accomplish nearly as much as I wanted to. So I decided to do better then on Thursday when I found myself with a half day off. About mid-morning I was being quite productive and then inspiration for a Sabbath Thought hit me! It was as if I wrote the whole first paragraph in my head as I was walking through the apartment. I had been worried that starting this new job, which begins my day MUCH earlier, would interfere with my writing time. So this gift from God was a great blessing! Even though I was excited and amazed, did I stop what I was doing and start writing at that very moment? No… no I didn’t. Friends, when God gives you inspiration please STOP right then and do whatever it is that you feel God is leading you to do! Because when I finished with the laundry (which definitely could have waited), the inspiration was gone. It was as fleeting as a breath of wind, stirring my head one second and leaving me in the doldrums the next.
I was upset with myself. I prayed and wrote several false starts. I almost posted last evening something I struggled all yesterday afternoon to write. But I decided not to send out something just because I felt time was running out. God deserves for me to listen to His timeline and not my own, which is what I had already struggled to learn earlier this week! This morning I’ve written more easily and in much less time than anything I came up with yesterday. God is good. Like finding that quiche recipe, sometimes we have to struggle for a while before finding the riches God wants to share with us. It took a few extra days to learn, but He brought home to me how listening both for His will regarding action and inaction are important. Following His recipe will always lead to delicious success!