What a lovely picture. The light in it is caught so beautifully, and I can just imagine the sound this lady's dress makes as she swooshes down her hallways.
Have you ever watched a grandfather clock as this little one does here? The pendulum swings back and forth, causing gears inside to move ... tick, tock; tick, tock. I wonder sometimes if we've lost something (else) with our digital timepieces--the ability to watch time go by, physically. The workings of a clock like that are almost mesmerizing. Watching a number "magically" change on your wrist or in your hand doesn't quite have the same effect!
How often I've felt like this girl, watching the workings of the clock and wondering at the passage of time. I wonder if she's in a hurry for the bells to ring, denoting the passing of another hour. She's got her hands clasped as if in anticipation. Perhaps she's waiting for her father to return home, or anxious to leave on her own trip. Maybe she's just ready for dinner! She watches the time go by with every swing of that shiny pendulum. And yet ... no noise! Why isn't the bell ringing?
She sees the movement, but that's all she can see. She's too short to look at the actual clock face! And in that, she's a bit like us. Because while she's in a hurry, anxious for the chimes to ring, watching moments go ticking by ... she can't see what time it actually is.
"The Bible is our direct source for perceiving God's attributes, noticing how He dealt with people in the past, and learning what is important to Him. Our whole Christian life isn't primarily about being good or doing the right thing. Our lives are to be about a personal relationship--a love cultivated between Creator and creature, Father and child.
By spending time in His Word, we come to know His heart. God longs for relationship with us and honors those who love Him and search for Him. Reading Scripture in such a way as to know Him better and look for clues as to how He interacts with human beings has given me a better understanding of how to please Him. I have learned how He deals with others so that I can better understand His work in my own life.
For instance, as I read and ponder the stories of the Bible--the lives of Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Joseph, and David, I see that they all had to wait for many years to see their promise from God fulfilled. It gives me a pattern for being mature. Apparently some things take a long time. I can see that God's timing and ways in the lives of those He has used are different than the ways of this world. In this world, I want immediate gratification--Answer my prayer now! Yet I see that those who were godly had to wait in faith for years, trusting that they would see the faithful hand of God in His time." ~from The Mom Walk
Ahhhh ... waiting. It is common to God's people. "There is nothing new under the sun," as Ecclesiastes 1:9 tells us.
Will I rest in His timing? Knowing that the clock really belongs to my Father, and He can see what time it is, though all I see is the moving of gears? Will I trust that He knows all and that when the time has fully arrived, He will surely cause the song to ring out, heralding the change I'm eagerly awaiting?
Spending time in His word reminds me that He will be faithful, though I wait long.
Are you waiting, too, today?