“What time is it?” I nervously asked my husband as we landed in Europe to connect with our flight to the USA. I was waking up from a nap and didn’t know how much time had passed since I slept. When he told me the time, I said, “Do you know we are late and likely will miss our connecting flight?” I said nervously. “Yes I know what time it is.” He replied, a bit agitated.
Our flight left Nairobi a few hours late, cutting our connecting time close. I was nervous when we left and said, “I don’t think we’re going to make it, what will we do?” If you know me even a little bit, you’ll know that I have a real aversion for being late. Ever. This scenario was one of the worst kind for me. I almost lost my cookies to be honest. Jamie, the ever-patient man that he is said, “Don’t worry, we will figure it out.” He is so confident, in every situation we have ever faced, that we will make it through. And he’s been right most of the time.
He was right until he wasn’t
Until he wasn’t right that day. We landed and ran to catch our next flight. As I predicted, we didn’t make it and I did my best not to show what I was feeling inside. I was probably breathing too hard from running to say very much. Along with several other passengers who were supposed to make the same flight as us (on Pan Am this was a while ago), we stood at the gate and watched the plane pull away. Of course we were all upset. Some of the other passengers took their frustrations out on the attendants at the counter. It was especially embarrassing because they were the same nationality as us, Americans. “Do you know what time it is? We’ve missed our flight? This is your fault, you need to make it right!” People carried on loudly, using a lot of unnecessary expletives. I felt so badly for the airline employees.
The carrying on of the other passengers defused my anger over the disruption of our plans. It wasn’t time to act ugly. While Jamie wasn’t right, we did miss our plane, he was right in predicting everything would work out, which it did. When it was our turn to be served, we told the attendant we were sorry for what they were going through, not all Americans are that rude. She served us with a teary smile and we got onto another flight a few hours later.
A time for everything
Hosea 10:12 ESV “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, that He may come and rain righteousness upon you.”
There are times and seasons for everything in life, we just need to know what time it is. At the airport that day, it wasn’t time to be angry or act ugly. It was time to be patient and trust. After all, you never know what God might be keeping you from or who He wants you to meet or what lesson He wants to teach you. There are so many unknown variables. And because we aren’t privy to what God is up to all the time, our job is to trust His timing. He knows what time it is.
So what time is it? It’s time to seek the Lord. It’s always that time.
Now, about those cookies I lost. I don’t think I’ll pick them up.
