Great timing. Everyone wants it. Not everyone has it.
This Christmas, I really wanted to fix a great Christmas meal. Since my husband was away last year at this time and my mom was visiting with us this year, it definitely seemed like a great occasion to make something beautiful for the Christmas table this year. I’d had great success with the cookies earlier this month – why not tackle some more savory attempts for the stomach?
Roast was the star of the day. My husband had mentioned a couple of weeks ago he missed just a yummy old-fashioned pot roast – not the kind you put in the crockpot but the kind that you just let it percolate in the oven for hours. So that’s how I decided to go for Christmas Day and found this delicious-looking recipe to use. (Note: I have no idea what vermouth is. Nor am I an expert on wines. So… I went with water.)
It started off great – the day before Christmas (yes, that would be Christmas Eve), I made sure the roast was defrosting, and with help from my mom, we got the green bean casserole and the jello 7-up salad all prepared and in the fridge. I made this Baked French Toast casserole from Paula Dean for us to eat on Christmas morning, and a cheesecake for after the Christmas meal. Mentally, I quickly checked off that all I’d need to do the next day was stick the roast in the oven, wait to cook the rolls and green bean casserole and do the deviled eggs.
And that was where it started going wrong. I should have done the eggs the day before. But instead, I waited until the absolute last minute to start them (and I was seriously tired – our 10-year-old could not sleep because he was so excited so this mama didn’t get to sleep till 1 a.m., at least, and we were up when the same 10-year-old got up – at 6:30 a.m.). I forgot that it takes a while for the eggs to boil, it takes a while to cool, and eggs need time to chill in the fridge once you’ve made them deviled. And do you know how hard it is to peel those things? I still haven’t found a fool-proof method, though my husband tried to help by showing me a “trick” he learned from a Navy buddy he roomed with during his last deployment. You crack the egg and then gently roll it over the counter to cause little cracks all over. All that did was make it doubly hard to peel because there were so many little pieces of shell to remove. And I’m pretty sure I was crunching pieces of little shell when we actually sat down to eat them. Not my proudest moment.
So I was thinking about timing, and how it’s important in the kitchen (and I need to work on mine), but how it’s also important in life. Especially as wives and moms. How do we manage our time? How do we think about our timing?
Do we rush, rush, rush and never think ahead and then throw up our hands in despair when nothing goes the way we were hoping?
Do we plan, plan, plan and over think everything – and then throw up our hands in despair when things still don’t go the way we wanted?
Or do we approach timing a little differently – with thoughtfulness and an understanding that there is only One who can control time? It’s not me. It’s not you. Only God has great timing. And His timing is perfect.
As we head into 2012, I’m thinking a lot about timing. For me, 2011 was the year of relationships. God taught me a lot about the importance, and the impact, of relationships. Friendships. People. I think this next year, He wants me to focus on timing. Not on mine – but His.
Not an easy task.
How do we manage our time? How do we spend our time? How do we show love and care and concern with our time? If time was measured in currency, would we be rich? Or flat broke?
I’ve had a lot of opportunities this year to discuss the Proverbs 31 wife. And one question that always seems to come up is the thought of how she did all she did, that we read about in that passage. Some scholars have offered the theory that this passage covers her life – not her day. What she did was in seasons – not necessarily what she did in 24 hours.
When it comes to timing, I am learning that my timing is not (most certainly) always God’s. But that His timing is best.
So how do I follow His timing? After all, I have a lot to juggle, like we all do. My marriage, my family, my church commitments, my ministry commitments, my writing, my speaking.They’re all important. They’re all things I believe God’s given me. So how do I honor Him best and honor what He’s given me?
By stopping before I touch any of it – and asking God to direct my time. To give me wisdom in managing it all. In spending it all. In doing it all (which I’ll just say now, you can’t do it all). It may sound too simple to some – but when we stay focused on Him, and what His Word teaches and what He is teaching us through the seasons we find ourselves in… He’ll show us what’s important, when.
He’ll help us see we’re right where we’re supposed to be.
PS – speaking of timing… I was “wasting” a little time last night hanging out on Pinterest – still trying to figure all of it out! – and I had the thought: what if the Proverbs 31 wife (or Martha31 as I like to call her) did Pinterest? Had some fun searching for things she might find interesting… and maybe you as well! Check out her board here (it’s a work in progress), and tell me what you think she’d add!
