“a clear space on each”
1 Kings 7:36
We bumped into some friends the other evening. At the animal shelter, of all places. We were going in; they were coming out. Turns out we’re all feeling the need for a pet in our lives, and both families chose the same day to do something about it.
Neither family went home with a pet. These things take time, n’est-ce pas?
Anyhow, we stood there in the parking lot for a few minutes, enjoying the usual, “How have you been… Gosh the kids are getting tall…” thing. Which, of course, was followed by, “We have to get together soon!”
Now sometimes that’s just a line, but when I got home, I immediately emailed my friend, and asked when would be a good time to have dinner. A few hours later, she emailed me a couple of dates in August, and asked if one of them work for my family.
So I went to the calendar, and flipped the page to August, and do you know what I saw?
Look at that. Nothing! Every single square is absolutely blank! Nothing going on in my life except the phases of the moon.
{Just for the record, that’s a Civic Holiday in Canada, on the 4th, and a Summer Bank Holiday in the U.K., on the 25th. But I won’t be observing those holidays, so those don’t count.}
I don’t know when’s the last time I had such an empty month, and I just loved that feeling of freedom and time. Life is going to get busy again in September, and my heart just breathed a sigh of happiness at the thought of how loose and easy going August is looking.
And I realized I had a feeling like I do at the beginning of the year ~ that fresh, new, “anything can happen” feeling. Here comes a month in which I haven’t made any mistakes, I haven’t wasted any time. Right now, looking at that page, I believe I can exercise several times a week, have coffee with a few friends, read the Bible every day, plus do some pleasure reading. I can prep for the upcoming school year, and study for the writing project I’ll be starting soon. And of course write every day. Plus church, eating, and sleeping.
Oh, and be a wife, mom, daughter, sister…
Right now anything is possible. The month is my oyster. So to speak…
But even as I was thinking these thoughts, I was starting to get discouraged. Because I knew it wasn’t going to happen that way. I’m going to get up late on some mornings, and watch too much TV some nights. There are probably going to be a couple of days when I don’t feel well, and I’m not as productive as I’d like. And when the month is over, I might be wondering where it went, and why I didn’t get more done.
But ~ joy! ~ a new month, like a new year, like every morning, is a fresh slate. His mercies are new, and I am a new creation. And when the month is over, if I’ve done even a few things right, I’ll have grown closer to Him, and look a little more like Him.
And even if I’ve made a few mistakes, September will be waiting for me ~ a new start.
Light Expectations 