Strapping on my backpack lightly laden with my Bible, journal, and some supplementary reading material (right now, Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan,) I set off for a hike in the park near my office. Normally during my hikes, I allow my mind to wander between events and people, thinking about or praying for each, as appropriate. Today, however, I decided to allow my mind to rest in the peace of my Father, ingesting the beauty of the world around me as I walked through His creation. Hearing the soft rustle of leaves, feeling the cool breeze gently blow across my sun-warmed skin, seeing the cottonwood fluff drift lazily along as if it were snowing pieces of the soft, wispy clouds in the stunning blue sky, my mind floated effortlessly as if it were a buoy resting atop a quiet mountain lake.
Mixed among the gentle ebb and flow of the world surrounding me, my mind rested upon an unlikely topic: a Cheez-It commercial. The basic gist of the commercial is that Cheez-It waits until their cheese is the exact right age before it’s ready to be used in their crackers. I found it incredibly ironic that God would liken my life to a cheezy commercial, but then again, I think it’s rather appropriate.
Cheez-It waits until the exact right time to ensure that their cheese is ready to be turned into the salty snack we love; so too God waits until the exact right time in our lives for certain things to happen. We know that He has specific plans for our lives, and that there is a specific time when things are to happen. Sometimes we can get impatient waiting for God’s plan to unfold in front of us, but we’re reminded that things happen exactly when they’re supposed to. Spring must arrive before the daffodils bloom; so too certain things must happen in our lives before parts of God’s plan can blossom.