What does RICH mean?

Several weeks ago, I picked up one of Isabella's friends for an afternoon of play.  As soon as she was safely buckled in, my van was filled with a flow of girly chatter.  They discussed things such as the fact that they both had on silver shoes, to the flowers growing by the side of the road, to the need of a snack as soon as possible.  Little talking girls quickly grow up into big talking girls.  Their futures and growing up was just one of the many topics covered in the short 8 minute drive to our house. The little friend said she wanted to be very rich when she grows up.  Isabella was puzzled by the term "rich" and asked me what it meant.  Before I could squeeze in a word, her friend gave her a kindergartner's definition - "Rich means that you live in a very big house, and you have lots and lots and lots of stuff."  Isabella proudly sat back in her booster seat, and said with a very smug smile, "Well, if that's what it means, then I am already rich!" 

 

I had to smile at her confidence because I know we are definitely not rich in terms of big houses and lots of stuff.  However, I am thankful that, in her little way, she feels that she is rich in what she claims as her own.

 

I recalled this conversation as I sat and watched the news footage of the recent Oklahoma tornadoes and of the fires that consumed hundreds of acres in Colorado.  Homes, vehicles, valuables, "stuff" gone in an instant.  I watched as parents gathered their children close, and told stories about how they gripped their babies by their arm as the wind tried to take them, and how they dug through the rubble to pull out their loved ones.  They cried, hugged their families and said that none of it mattered.  It was all gone, but what mattered most was still there.  It was all just stuff.  

 

In the face of those tragedies, the Lord reminded me how rich I really am.  If all of the "stuff" were taken away, but I still have the One who promised to never forsake me, then I am rich beyond my wildest dreams.  Wealth that I wouldn't trade the world for!  Lord, let me look at your blessings all around and, like Isabella, be thankful that I am "rich" in the things that really matter. 

How long have you been in the waiting room?

My 2 littles are learning about PATIENCE in Sunday School.  The teachers have taught them a catchy little tune that Landry often sings.  Oh, how I struggle with PATIENCE.  I am a right now kind of girl.  Patience is one of those ongoing virtues that I am striving for, to say the least.  Sadly, my faith often waivers in the times of learning to wait.  I can honestly say, I do not doubt that God CAN or WILL, but have trouble with WHEN! 

"P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E
 you want it right now, but you can't have it right now,

you got to wait for it, wait for it!"
 (Landry & Isabella's Sunday School song)

Joseph waited 17 long years for his promise of leadership instead of imprisonment.  Sarah waited for decades for her promise of motherhood instead of barrenness.  The children of Israel wandered 40 years before settling in their Promised Land.  Forty years of sand, grumpiness, and mumbling when they had been promised a land flowing with milk and honey.  Last night, Clark brought it to my attention how all of their woes suddenly came to an abrupt end.  Moses died and Joshua became the new leader.  In the first chapter of Joshua, we read how the Lord renews Joshua's faith and gives him instructions.  Instruction that are good to heed regardless of what situation we are facing.

Be strong and of good courage...meditate day and night upon the book of the law and it will not depart from thee...be not afraid or dismayed...  (Joshua 1:1-9)

Good stuff!  THEN the Lord instructs him to tell the 2 million plus Israelites to pack their food and belongings that they will be leaving the wilderness, passing Jordan and heading to the promised land within THREE DAYS.  Forty years to three days.  When the Lord says it is time for the trial to be over, then it is over.  When it is His time for the blessing then it happens!  Go in and posses the land which the Lord has given!

My husband's words encouraged me, and proved to me yet again that the Lord knows right where we are.  My prayer devotion for today in my handy dandy devotional book encouraged me even further...

Lord, I know that doubts and confusion don't come from you.  On days when everything I know to be true is challenged - and I feel like I'm walking through a fog that won't lift - be my source of truth and light.  Bring me to complete trust in you.

Harriet Beecher Stowe said it this way, "When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you till it seems as if you couldn't hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that's just the place and time that the tide will turn."

The waiting room of patience is hard!  Like Joshua, be strong and of good courage, be not afraid or dismayed. Forty years might be in the process of becoming three days!