For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. Habakkuk 2:3
My boys have grown! We were going through their closets and drawers the other day which led us to the conclusion that some shopping needed to be done whether they wanted to or not. A few piles of clothing sat unwearable due to growth spurts. At least we could pass them on!
I also needed some shorts, and for some crazy reason I thought that I’d order them online. What was I thinking? When I received them, only two of the shorts fit. Two was better than nothing, right? It wasn’t a big deal because I had checked their return policy and it said I could take them back to a local store.
Yesterday was to be the day of some shopping. My boys were so excited…ha! I’d return my shorts and get the last items on the shopping list for the boys. Guess what I got in my email that morning? There was going to be a huge sale in the very store we were going! How about that? They were even going to have music! Maybe my boys could break out some of their new dance moves they learned. Oops…that’s another story.
It was a rainy day in the middle of the week, and I thought it kind of odd they’d have such a large event when more people would be coming in on the weekend compared to a Tuesday. The front doors were propped open welcoming us in, but there wasn’t a DJ. I just figured maybe he was taking a break or had to cancel. There were sale signs up!
We gathered the clothes the boys needed and headed to the dreaded dressing rooms for them to do the awful chore of trying on clothes. I mentioned the big sale to the lady working back there, but she promptly burst my bubble by telling me I must have the wrong store.
Almost all the clothes on the list were being checked off. We did good! We usually don’t have so much luck in getting things to fit. Since I don’t know how to look at my email while out and about (even though I got one of those big, fancy phones now), I made my youngest son pull it up to find out what kind of mistake I made. It was the store I was in! It just was for Saturday. Right place, wrong time.
This led me to the debate of whether I should leave and go back Saturday or just buy the clothes. The answer had to be to buy the clothes because we already have plans for then. Also, I could picture all the clothes that fit being gone. My boys wouldn’t be happy to go through the process again.
I was left with needing to return those shorts that I ordered. I went in proud of myself that I was on top of things and taking care of this in such a timely matter. The lady at the counter wanted to know why I was returning so many. With a dejected sigh, I explained they didn’t fit.
She went through them and informed me that I could either get store credit or I’d have to return them through mail. I was confused. I checked the return policy before I bought them. It said I could return to a store for full credit. Apparently, I missed the fine print that said, “Oops, not if you paid through Paypal.”
Well, big surprise for me that I had another strike-out with the computer. Grrr. The sales clerk was helpful and gave me a bag to return them in while telling me that I had to pay for shipping. Wrong place, right time.
What did I learn yesterday? I need to pay more attention to the details. I could be in the right place at the wrong time or I could be at the wrong place at the right time. Think on that for a while. Not too long though because it could give you a headache like me.
Don’t we do this sometimes with God? Our thoughts are so strong in our head that we don’t wait for all the facts before pushing forward. It leads us into the right place at the wrong time or even the wrong place at the right time because we stop walking in God’s footsteps and go blazing our own path.
Do you ever say, “I must not have heard right!” Maybe you’re hearing fine, but you just don’t have all the details yet. Maybe you got out of God’s pace and started blazing your own trail. You don’t want to end up sitting unwearable like the piles of clothes on my boys’ floor simply because you don’t allow God to use you in his time.
Take a deep breath, don’t stay stagnant, but don’t get ahead of God. You don’t want to have to go through the process again. When you listen, you’ll find yourself at the right place at the right time!
