A Bag of Marbles

"A sweet lesson of this kind happened to her in the case of one of her children. She was making a bag for her to hold marbles, and she wanted a string in it, and she went to put the string in with a bodkin; but when the child saw the bodkin disappear, she said, 'Mother, I want the string,' but no string appeared; and she said, with an anxious sort of brow, 'Oh, mother, do put the string'; and she said, 'Darling, trust mother.' Presently the string came out, and she tied it, and gave it to her, and the little girl looked at it thoughtfully for a moment, and then said,  'Oh, that is just like Jesus. We give Him things to do, and He don't seem to be doing the right way, but we know that Jesus knows, and we wait and don't worry, and it come out all right,' Now, that is rest. they should trust Jesus, and although they may not understand at the time His way of working, yet they leave it with Him, and he brings it out all right, and they have rest." ~ Mrs. Pearsall Smith quoted in The Baptist June 11, 1813

I'm not sure I can top the simplicity of this story. However, it seems quite relevant to my wife and I. We did not receive a student placement in the Western North Carolin Conference this year. The conference is full. I have a promise to keep to my wife so I find myself and my family in the familiar situation of looking for a job with the added responsibility of a wife and son to provide for, while I still have another year of seminary to complete. It is helpful to be able to look back on that time of unemployment and remember all of the ways God looked after me; especially as I work to continue putting my trust in God. Isn't that the definition of holiness? Instead of a laundry list of do this, and don't do that shouldn't holiness be about daily practices which help us to better trust in God? During this season of Lent when people often give up something isn't the point to learn to trust in God more? Giving up something in Lent is like "Basic Training" in the military. We give up something while we have the option not to, so when we are caught between a rock and a hard place we have practiced trusting God. What is that old phrase; first we try then we trust? Lent is about learning to trust God when life is easy so when we face trials of various kinds we have a firm foundation of trust in God and the reassurance God will see us through.