Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Peace in the Unknown


-->

The days following my parents departure were hard ones. For months we had be nourished by the anticipation of the their arrival and then there was the sweetness of having them here. Sean left for 2 weeks just a few days before they did, we hadn’t done school in a month and I was getting over being sick. It was the perfect storm of yuck that left me wondering what we are even doing here. “It’s too hard God, why are we here?” I cried, I prayed, but I didn’t get any answers.
I’m reading “The Hiding Place” by Corrie ten Boom, to the girls. We are studying world history this year and have made it to World War II. I know there may be parts that are too heavy for them, but there is so much golden wisdom in this book, that it’s worth it too me. Plus, being named after Corrie, this is much more than just a story to me.
At lunch the other day we came to this story:
A 6 year old Corrie has just asked her father a “birds and bees” question…
“He turned to  look at me, as he always did when answering a question, but to my surprise he said nothing. At last he stood up, lifted his traveling case from the rack over out heads and set it on the floor.
“Will you carry off the train, Corrie?” he said
I stood up and tugged at it.
“It’s too heavy.” I said.
“Yes,” he said. “And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It’s the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you.”
“And I was satisfied. More than satisfied – wonderfully at peace. There were answers to this and all my hard questions – for now I was content to leave them in my father’s keeping.”
Corrie was content to wait for answers because she trusted in her father’s love. Her father, in his love didn’t give her answers because she wasn’t ready. Peace comes, not from knowing, but from trusting. I am that little Corrie and today I choose to leave my questions in my father’s keeping.

No comments: