Till Journey’s End

Our part is to wait by faith

His is to restore

To us is given to believe

In Christ the risen Lord

Our part is to hope each day

And His the Spirit send

Our part is to run the race

His to keep

Till journey’s end!

Acts 1:4 KJV …but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

Till Journey’s End by Peter Caligiuri copyright 2021 All rights reserved. Use by permission only

The Donkey Waited

Today I am reprising a post from last year’s Easter season that I thought might be perfect for this year. After all through this long-long Covid season we have been forced to learn to wait. I don’t know about you but waiting is not high on my list of things I am dying to do. Have you ever seen a seminar on waiting? So to not make you wait any longer let’s re-visit our friend the donkey!

Photo by chris carroll on Pexels.com

Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me.  Matthew 21:1-2 NKJV

Some days I feel a lot the donkey in this story. Everyone else had something important to do but the donkey. I hate to wait because it makes me feel helpless. But just like the donkey, waiting gives God time to accomplish His plans on His schedule.

First, the donkey waited quietly. Imagine what might have happened if the disciples came and found the donkey and its colt wildly tugging at the ropes tying them. Just as the disciples were looking for gentle beasts that would be useful for their master, so God is looking for hearts quietly waiting for His call.

Second, the donkeys had to be ready to go. I wonder if the donkey had bucked and kicked as it was untied if it would have been brought to Jesus. But, isn’t that the way we sometimes react when we are called to do something new?

Last of all, because the donkey and her foal waited, they were brought to Jesus. Like those donkeys,, we are also not forgotten. Instead, we are like a restaurant table that has been reserved for the master’s use. When Jesus comes, we must be ready and waiting. We must be willing for Him to show us where to go because we will only get where Jesus is going, when we are ready to wait until He calls.

My Mother the Bat and Being a Disciple

But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. Matthew 13:16 KJV

Being a disciple means being a learner, and I learned from my mother that you can’t be afraid if you want to learn something new. As a science-fiction writer, she always was learning something new and doing a lot of research so that her books would be as accurate as possible. Her second published novel was about a planet whose people were blind and got around like bats using a radar like sense. This really impressed my eight-year-old imagination and got me wondering what it would be like to just listen like a bat to what was around me.

Photo by HitchHike on Pexels.com

Then one day as I was playing in the woods behind our house, I found a real live bat hanging upside down and sleeping a few off the ground on a tree trunk. Excitedly I ran home, found an empty peanut butter jar, then scooped up the bat, slid the lid over the top of the jar and raced home. I couldn’t wait to show mom! When I ran into the house letting the screen door slam behind me, Mom put down what she was doing and came in just as I flipped the jar upside down and dumped the bat on her kitchen table, shouting, “Look mom! A real bat!” Most women back in those days would have either run away screaming or they would have picked up a broom to send the poor bat into eternity. But not my mom! Because she wanted to learn more, she was just as excited as I was to watch our sleepy friend as he stretched his feet and slowly started crawling across the table. That memory got me to wondering how ready any of us are for what God has in store. The only way to be ready is to be in His word every day. Then when a bat is dumped on our table,  we’ll be excited to learn all about it instead of running away. That new thing God is bringing us is exactly what we need for the story He is writing in our life today.