As we walked the downtown streets of my old hometown we promised her she would play in the water. I’m not sure my grand girl understood, after all she’s not quite 2 years old. But when we happened upon the small pools of water you could see it in her eyes.
As she was unbuckled from her stroller she began to make her way to tiny areas of water scattered in front of the aquarium. She couldn’t get there fast enough. First it was the one that held the rocks, next it was the one with the small tunnel. The water began to lap the hem of her dress as she reached in to touch. She was having the time of her life.
It was a slice of delight for her on that hot summer day. But all too soon it ended. It was time to move on. Bigger things awaited, things she knew not of.
She didn’t want to leave. She wasn’t happy with us. Her protests were made known as we gathered her up, tears cascading down her cheeks. We tried to tell her that we were going some place better, but she could not see. Why were we taking her away? She was having fun. This was where she wanted to be. Didn’t we understand? As I took her hand I told her, “we are going to the big fountains.”
She pulled and tugged to get away. She wanted to go back where she had been. My firm grasp pulled her forward away from the confining pools where she was finding such pleasure. I knew what awaited her. I knew it would be much more than what she had just seen. She did not.
As we walked she began to settle, after all what other choice did she have? We reached the bridge across the river, walking one step in front of the other. Soon she began to run, becoming distracted with what was around her. She didn’t know where she was headed, she walked simply because it was the path made for her. She accepted the small pools as a faint memory. It’s easy to happen with a small child.
As we turned the corner she saw them. Fountains shooting up in the air, children running in and out. She had hit the mother lode. Laughter returned. Joy filled her eyes. Moments before she couldn’t trust where we were leading her. Now she stood in a place where all seemed right in the world around her. What a difference perspective makes when our eyes see what the other has known.
As I sat there watching it all play out I knew this whole set-up was for me.
It’s hard to understand the ways of God. Sometimes it feels as if He has taken me away from something I’ve longed for with no consideration to what I want. After all He took me into this wilderness where longings have been left unfulfilled didn’t He? I have pulled and tugged, lamenting as the tears have fallen. It’s been hard not to give up and throw in the towel. What good could He have for me here?
I am reminded of a group of people who waited a long time for deliverance. When it finally came they were pushed along. The path was the longer route around obstacles they had not had to endure before. The shorter route would have led them straight into the hands of an enemy they weren’t prepared to meet. They had to go around. They whined, complained, pulled and tugged. Maybe they could go back to Egypt. At least they knew what to expect there. But God’s hand wouldn’t let them go. He knew.
It wasn’t where they wanted to be. It was where they were led. A greater thing awaited them, Red Seas parting, enemies being removed and on further a promised land.
God’s ways are higher than mine… just as mine were higher than my grand girl’s. I knew all along that she would hit the mother lode. It’s why I took her away from the smaller ponds.
He knows things I know not of, things I have not yet seen. Things await me in unseen places.
In that moment on that hot summer day I saw the twinkle in His eyes as He opened mine to remind me. He sees the whole picture. He knows…..
Greater things are yet to come…
@copyrighted: 2013; Julie L. Todd
My Long and Winding Road 