esmaspäev, august 30, 2004
Content
I was listening to Bruce Cockburn tonight while I was packing still more of the stuff in the apartment. A line he sang really resonated with me: "I don't know why I should, but I feel content." That's the best way to describe how I'm feeling tonight: content. It's a good feeling, although there have been plenty of little things lately that could have left me feeling unsettled (literally and figuratively!).
I think it's this sense that through all of the unexpected things that have happened, the unplanned encounters, the prolonged settling-in time, God is working to prepare us for work He has for us here in Tartu. It's been the pattern of my life, really, when I bother to reflect on it. There are things I was able to do in Chester that I could not have had I not had seemingly unrelated experiences earlier in my life. It's like watching a building under construction and occasionally saying, "Oh, that piece went there so that this one now would work just right. Now I get it!"
Not saying that I get the big picture here in Tartu, but simply to say that God's working in my life in the past, especially the hard times when I didn't even realize He was working, are a good indication that He is continuing this process. What is happening now will intersect with what will need to be done later--probably in unexpected ways--and I will again encounter someone whom I've met recently, or draw from some challenge I faced today (like talking to the lady at the grocery meat counter) or God knows what, and suddenly I will say, "Now I get it!"
So I feel content. I share the feelings of another great lyricist--David--in Psalm 139 (which, by the way, our family is going to present as a "family item" during a regional rally in September): "You both precede and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know!"
--Tim
I think it's this sense that through all of the unexpected things that have happened, the unplanned encounters, the prolonged settling-in time, God is working to prepare us for work He has for us here in Tartu. It's been the pattern of my life, really, when I bother to reflect on it. There are things I was able to do in Chester that I could not have had I not had seemingly unrelated experiences earlier in my life. It's like watching a building under construction and occasionally saying, "Oh, that piece went there so that this one now would work just right. Now I get it!"
Not saying that I get the big picture here in Tartu, but simply to say that God's working in my life in the past, especially the hard times when I didn't even realize He was working, are a good indication that He is continuing this process. What is happening now will intersect with what will need to be done later--probably in unexpected ways--and I will again encounter someone whom I've met recently, or draw from some challenge I faced today (like talking to the lady at the grocery meat counter) or God knows what, and suddenly I will say, "Now I get it!"
So I feel content. I share the feelings of another great lyricist--David--in Psalm 139 (which, by the way, our family is going to present as a "family item" during a regional rally in September): "You both precede and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know!"
--Tim
