Out of the Actions of Babes: Timing

Today Tiny came over and played for a bit, mostly with the balloons left over from Bubba's birthday party on Monday.  She bounced them around, and batted them up in the air.  But one balloon still had enough helium left in it to hover just on the edge between floating and falling... eventually gravity would win out, and it would ever so slowly make it's way towards the ground.

I watched Tiny stretch and strain, trying to grasp that balloon as soon as she possibly could - only to end up brushing it out of reach again with the slightest touch of her fingertips.  That little girlie is an excessively determined thing (which I LOVE), and strove relentlessly to win her prize, again, and again.  Never realizing that all her efforts only pushed the balloon further away.

I laughed at the irony I saw mirrored in my life.  Watching her struggle, illustrated exactly how I feel about some of my most desired blessings.  The more I strive, and work, and stretch, the more effort and worry and strain I put in, the further I seem to push them away.  Righteous desires, but for some reason they never seem to come fully within my reach.

So what's the lesson to be learned?  In the gospel we are told that we should act, and not be acted upon.  Faith without works is dead being alone.  We are to do all that we can do, and the grace of God fills in the rest.  But sometimes, sometimes it seems it still just isn't enough.  And the more we fret, the more we strain, the more energy we waste and make ourselves miserable in the process.

I think sometimes it isn't the prize we want that is wrong, but maybe it just isn't the right time (ie it isn't the Lord's timing).  Yes, I should live for it, pray for it, strive for it.  But some blessings also require a heck of a lot of the p-word (patience).  Some blessings I cannot grasp with any amount of effort of my own - I just have to wait until the Lord orchestrates them to fall directly into my lap.