The Time Between

As I look at the large stoneware crock I have on my fireplace hearth, I smile.
The gray crock with the blue lettering and the number three on the crown.
It is now our “penny jar”…something we started years ago and have continued.

It used to hold my youngest daughter, Molly.
Not that I put her in there, of course.
Rather, she climbed in there herself as a small toddler.
She would get in the crock…scrunch herself down…all you could see was her head.

She was perfectly safe.
She looked like one of the children in the photographs of Anne Geddes.

I look at the crock now…and find it hard to believe that she ever fit in there.
She is almost as tall as me.
She is s junior in high school.
She is driving.
Where has the time gone?

Molly was born two days before her due date.
She was my biggest baby…with a full head of dark hair.
Her two sisters and two brothers loved her…they still do!
She always wanted to cuddle, and often fell asleep on my lap.

Molly is seventeen years old today!
Seventeen…that wonderful time between the excitement of getting your license at sixteen and crossing over into adulthood at eighteen.
The time between.

She is using the time between well.
She enjoys reading books and writing stories.
She enjoys music…she plays piano and taught herself how to play guitar and ukelele.
She enjoys singing.

The time between is being used for interning at a preschool, and babysitting.
The time between is also being used for photography…her own business, on the side.

The time between.

At that time, the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
At midnight the cry rang out: “Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, “Give us some of  your oil; our lamps are going out.”
“No,” they replied, “there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.”
But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
Later, the others also came. “Sir! Sir!”  they said, “Open the door for us!”
But he replied, “I tell you the truth. I don’t know you.”
Therefore keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour. (Matthew 25:1-13)

The time between…waiting for the Bridegroom to come back!

Jesus cares about the time between.

However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth? (Luke 18:8)

It matters how we use the time between.
For my daughter, the time between prepares her for when she leaves to go to college.
How does she manage her time?

For believers, the time between prepares us for when our Lord Jesus comes back.
How have we used the time for kingdom work?
How have we kept our focus, as we ponder the “now and not yet” of the kingdom?

Only the Father knows how long the time between will be.
We, as believers, are living in that time right now.
The time between the first and second coming of our Lord Jesus.

We cannot procrastinate.
I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor; now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2)

We have work to do…in the time between.
Not busy work…but joy filled work.
Work that matters…sharing the Gospel with others who are waiting…in the time between.

The question is not…Are we busy?
It’s easy to be busy with mundane tasks that fill our time.

The questions is…Are we being productive?
Are we redeeming the time between…producing much fruit?
Fruit for our Lord Jesus who will be coming back…when the time between is over.

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Happy Birthday, my sweet, Molly!
You are a joy to me…to our whole family.
I love to see the world through your eyes!
What a blessing…to see you using this time between well…for HIM!
How I love you!
MOM