Place and Time

Another trip to the emergency room this week (an endless revolving door it seems) this time for my youngest son N. During recess, he found himself solidly in the wrong place at the wrong time, underneath the basketball hoop waiting for a rebound. A taller boy with a little higher jump reached the ball before N. and came down hard with his elbow directly at N. eye. An accident, to be sure, but a gash, blood, pain. I was already planning on being at the school within half an hour, N. and K. had dentist appointments in the afternoon, released early from school. As I am travelling to get them both (two different schools) the nurse from N. school calls.

Now, this nurse and I have become friends, in constant contact last year because of the daily medical attention given for T. and his daily glucose checks, insulin shots and then the more intensive role as he became an insulin pump wearer. There are only a few people in my life that I spoke with every single day, and she was one of them. As T. finished his school year, it was the end of elementary school for him-he was now a middle school student. It was a natural progression, an expected one, and one which brought great results.

And one lonely one-the nurse and I didn't have that same daily contact anymore. She is exclusively assigned to the elementary school, not the middle school. We hadn't had a chance to talk ever since school began, which from a mom point of view is exactly what you want. Two of my children were at her assigned school and neither had as much broke a fever or pulled a hangnail.

A different time. A different place.

Hearing her voice on the phone didn't bring the instantaneous sense of fear that T. was in a blood sugar coma, or registered a glucose reading over 500. But I was confused why she needed me, none of my other children have needed her expertise, something must be wrong. While she is explaining the accident, the wound to prepare me so I won't freak out when I see this beautiful boy with a bloody eye, the actions she took to containing the bleeding, her reassurance and patient manner were still present.

A different child. A different situation.

Yet our connection had remained the same - I'm so glad she was there. Her attention helped stop the bleeding long enough to be able to fulfill this dentist appointment and then go the er for stitches. The men in my life seem to be collecting these "character scars", I'm done with the collection, thank you very much.

The wrong place at the wrong time...have you ever found yourself there? Flip the perspective - have you found yourself in the exact right place at the exact right time?

Are you there right now, with God leading you through events that only He knew about? You being the one that received the vented anger from someone else's wrong actions, but able to share compassion, understanding.. You helping repair the affects of a broken heart from someone else's carelessness or callousness. You picking up the pieces so carelessly strewn about. You correcting wrongs. You drawing up blueprints. You killing rats and cockroaches. You cleaning up the stained areas. You wiping away tears.

The place and time chosen by God, and He has prepared you for it by the things He has brought you through.

Esther's story in the Old Testament carries many messages, but none of them more poignant to me than these verses when she was facing a devestating situation requiring courage and strength. "Do not think that you will escape this evil within the king's house, more than anyone else, more than any other Jew. For if you do not engage right now, there will be safety and peace brought from another source, it will not be from you; but you and all you hold dear will be destroyed; and who knows that you have not been brought to this place in time for a such a time as this?" Esther 4:13-14 Have you found that God has brought you to this place, this time, step by step, experience by experience? Do you hear the echoed words through the centuries reaching out to you from the pages of the Living Word and holding you still in the presence of God? Do you know you are in your place for such a time as this? Lovingly prepared, specifically detailed, ready because God has been at work for a very long time. I praise God for His provision, for His character molding within my life, celebrating the person I was, the person I am and the person I will be because of God's providential will.

I'm at my mom's house tonight, with everyone tucked snug in their "grandma" beds and the coolness of the evening seeping in through a slightly opened window. As I try to close the frame (it's only 40 degrees outside tonight) I am captivated by the night sky. I love the stars, and I trace the different constellations everytime I can. The first one I always look for is Orion, with his three star belt. He's been with me forever it seems, on long walks when I needed a study break, casting romantic charm on a loving embrace, calming my moods when "I needed some air" to keep me from saying the things which might hurt or disappoint. I don't step outside to get away from other people, but frequently to collect my thoughts and speak with my God-given friend Orion. I don't feel alone or misunderstood when on a clear night I can find him, sometimes on his head, sometimes rotated around because of the motion of the night sky. The constant routine, this predictable placement of stars reminds me at the core of my understanding, "God knows, God has always been here, You have never been alone."

Starry night and sweet dreams.