My all-time favorite movie is The Princess Bride. I have very fond memories of reciting entire scenes with my family. Actually, not so much memories – we still do it. Back in the day of video tapes, we wore out our copy of the movie we watched it so many times. Imagine my dismay last week when my oldest son did not recognize a quote from the movie! And not once, but twice! Well, something had to be done about this oversight in his upbringing! Saturday night, we decided everything else needed to be set aside as we watched The Princess Bride as a family.
As the scenes unfold, I once again found myself reciting the dialogue. In one scene, Inigo Montoya is standing at the top of the cliff watching “The Man in Black” trying to climb. He is waiting at the top to engage him in a sword fight and offering promises to help without hurting The Man in Black. Inigo says, “I hate waiting.” I can relate!
For years I have been praying for direction. Should we move? Should we add on to our home? Should we keep our home as is? I felt like I wasn’t being heard until I realized I wasn’t doing anything to move forward. God was answering with, “Wait.” The time wasn’t now. Now I feel He is still telling us to wait, and while we wait, we need to purge.
I prayed for answers for our work. Again, “Wait.” Really? Like Inigo, I felt like saying, “I hate waiting!” But there is peace in the wait; lessons to be learned; time to be spent with family.
I prayed for God to tell me what He is calling me to do – to make it crystal clear, at least the next step. I became frustrated with wanting to follow His will for my life but not knowing what it is. Then I realized, I AM living my calling. I have six beautiful, quickly-growing children. My impact may not be wide-spread in my lifetime. Maybe God isn’t calling me to go out and minister to the sick or suffering in the world (right now – I don’t know the future obviously), but He did give me a family to raise to know Him. Maybe my impact on this world is to raise my children to know God, and who knows, maybe we have a child who will be like Mother Theresa or find the cure for cancer. I may be “just” a mom, invisible to most of the greater world, but if I do my part, my impact, however anonymous in this world, may be farther-reaching than anything I can imagine. God is bigger and His plan is more perfect than any limited human imagination.
In his homily this Sunday, our pastor said, “Sometimes we don’t know what will happen because it is more important for us to trust God and His plan for our lives than it is to know His will at this time, for we believe our God is a loving God, the God of the living.”
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the LORD—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.
Father, help me to remember that I work for You. In the midst of chaos, help me to bind myself to You and Your will. Help me to come to embrace the “wait” while You ready my life for Your perfect plan in Your perfect timing. Amen
