Blessed Interruptions

I love working alongside the faculty and staff at RDS! They are serious about the task to which God has called them: partnering with you in teaching your child(ren) from a biblical worldview. Is there any greater calling than modeling Christlikeness in the classroom while molding and teaching little lives? What an investment of their time!Currently, the teachers and Jenny are reading Discipline, the Glad Surrender by Elisabeth Elliot. Throughout the book, the author explores seven areas of discipline- the disciplines of body, mind, place (honoring others), time, possessions, work, and feelings. The author writes, “There will be time (enough), depend on it, for everything the Lord wants us to do.”  While that challenged my thinking, one of the most profound understandings, an oxymoron of sorts, was this:  blessed interruptions (of our time).  I really do not like them; however, I am convinced the Lord wants to re-fashion my thinking and mold me in the process. Allow me to explain.I am learning to say, “My times are in Thy hands, Lord.” Quite often our time(s) seems to be in other people’s hands- especially little people’s. When you wish for solitude, the baby awakens 15 minutes early from her nap. Or just when you think the medication will work for the ear infection, your preschooler awakens for the fifth night in a row needing your time and comfort.  As you were enjoying some quiet time of reflection, you were jolted and found yourself in your child’s bedroom soothing his little self from a bad dream. And so on…Why do interruptions bother us so much? I will share my answer with you- it’s giving up ownership to my time. My sense of control over my time has suddenly dissipated like a puff of smoke. My well-organized day, the scheduling of my time has suddenly become a mirage in the desert. The careful planning of my time has been blocked by another’s need. In the midst of an interruption, my time has vanished, and I feel discontentment. It is at this moment E.E. reminds me, “That while this time has slipped out of my hands, it has not slipped out of the Lord’s. In His hands, these unexpected things will be fashioned into an unexpectedly beautiful design.” (Sticky note, anyone?) I am learning to offer up the gift of my time to the Lord to use as He sees fit. After all, He brought time into being and has allowed me to be a steward of it.Growing up on a farm, I loved peering out the airplane window and seeing the farmlands of the Midwest from a different vantage point. Observing the perfectly straight plowed fields, I could see order, design, and seemingly, perfection, from that heightened vantage point. As our dear author writes, and I agree, “The most beautiful designs, however, grow out of interruptions- a tree here, a pond there, a hill, a house.” These interruptions, these interludes have purpose also, just as much as the neatly plowed and planted fields of corn or beans.As I challenge myself, may I gently challenge you? Let’s look at interruptions as blessed times, as God's divine appointments, as interludes with purpose; greater than my perceived need of time.  And as we receive these blessed interruptions with an attitude of sacrificial praise, might God use them to mold us into being more like His Son, that we might glorify our Father Who is in Heaven? Let us pray so.Hear more from Jeannie about a "Blessed Interruption" that impacted her journey as a young mom.[embed]https://youtu.be/814aaghrE20[/embed]