Someday.....

“Someday” has always seemed like it was a long time away.  There will always be time, right???

Someday….I will finish that sewing project.

Someday….I will learn to control those negative thoughts.

Someday….I will forgive that person.

Someday….I will stop hiding who I am and let others see the real ME.

Someday….I will believe that Jesus is WHO HE SAYS HE IS – and live my life that way.

The last time I visited my critically ill, 88 year old father in his nursing home room, I was struck with a sobering thought:  His “somedays” are gone.  He has chosen not to have any of his personal belongings in the nursing home room with him other than a few personal care items.  I was saddened by the image of him searching for his tube of chapstick in the bedside table.   In the emptiness of the  nursing home room, there was no representation of life’s  strivings that can seem so important, so urgent: houses, jobs, cars. 

    My father’s searching for his chapstick seemed to represent the same searching that we all experience: finding God’s purpose and hope in the midst of a busy, often complicated life.   I had to ask the questions of my own life… When my “somedays” are coming to an end, what will my life represent? Will I allow “someday” to continue to dominate my life and therefore become an idol?

There is a different sort of “SOMEDAY” that does matter, and I am choosing to live for that “SOMEDAY”.  “SOMEDAY” I will be called to give an account to Jesus.  How did I live my life, what did I do with the talents and resources which He entrusted me with? When my “SOMEDAY” does come, this is what I want to hear Jesus say: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness.” Matthew 25:21

During this Lenten season, I am choosing a new, intentional path.     I am going to stop hiding who I really am, stop trying to be that “perfect person” who has it all together. I am going to stop trying to earn God’s approval, because He has already approved me – I am forgiven, redeemed.   I am going to live for the “SOMEDAY” when I will be called to give an account of how I lived my life.  

We all have a testimony of God’s redemptive power and those stories are the very thing that God uses to tell HIS story.  I am experiencing God’s redemption in my life now as I am moving towards healing, wholeness – after becoming a widow in my 50’s, after struggling with anxiety for many years.   The redemption comes one day, one step at a time.  And God’s story is told day by day, moment by moment.    Because I am so grateful for what God is doing in my life, I am choosing to live out the commandment in Matthew 28:18 when Jesus told his disciples:  “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”

I would love to hear the story of God's redemption as expressed in your life.