I turn 65 later this year. Woo Hoo! 🙂
I called the Social Security Administration the other day to ask some basic questions and schedule an appointment. I could have found my answers and signed up online, avoiding the need for an appointment altogether.
Silly me. I wanted to speak with a real person. Call me Old Fashioned. 🙂
Why was I not surprised by what happened next? “We are experiencing higher than normal call volumes. Your estimated wait time is 45 minutes.”
The system was overloaded. At one point, I hung up. I called back. At another point, I was disconnected. Eventually, I got through… to that elusive real person.
It is so different with You, Lord! You are The Ultimate Hotline — a very Real Person, indeed. The very opposite of elusive.
The One who is always there, whenever we call. Always there, hoping we will call. And You answer on the very first ring… even when we can’t hear Your Voice.
In the silence, we may wonder, “Where are You, Lord? Why don’t You answer?” We don’t stop to think that maybe, just maybe, there’s A Good Reason for Your silence.
Maybe we are not yet ready for the answer we need. Maybe if that answer comes too soon, we will miss it altogether.
Maybe, for our sake, You are inviting us to exercise our Trust Muscles. Inviting us to live with our questions. Knowing — believing — You will answer, eventually. In a way and at a time that will be perfect.
Maybe we are “deaf” from too much wax build-up in our ears. The predictable result of every un-confessed sin… and/or our not-so-benign neglect of what we know is Proper Hygiene.
Maybe our ears are ringing from overexposure to Noise. So much Noise, we need to learn to relish Your Gift of Silence. So our ears can be re-sensitized to Your small, yet powerful, whisper.
Maybe an answer is not what we really need at all, Lord.
Sometimes we are too inclined to put You “on hold.” For moments, days, weeks… even years. We are so desperate for the “security” of “knowing” that we chase after answers wherever we think we might find them…
… instead of chasing after You, Lord — our only real Security. Our Source for All Truth.
And there You are, on hold… Never dropping our call. Never hanging up on us.
Waiting. Wooing. Patiently. Persistently. Passionately. Powerfully. Wanting and willing us to reconnect. Welcoming us when we do.
The Ultimate Hotline.
The One Who wants — and is worth — more than occasional calls from us.
The One Who wants — and is worth — a Lifestyle from us… of limitless connection.
“‘Even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and mourning and weeping.’ Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love…” (Joel 2:12-13)
Hello, Lord… are You there?
Gratefully certain…
… and certainly grateful,
Abba’s Girl