Not today
Her sister ripped open each birthday package with unbridled excitement. Tissue paper littered the room and she revealed a collection of princess dresses, sparkly accessories, new pajamas and fun games.
“HEY! I WANTED ONE OF THOSE!” She screamed through tears as she sat on her daddy’s lap.
“I wanted a new Cinderella dress!”
“I wanted those fingernails!”
“I wanted those house shoes!”
Each gift, evoking more intense emotion as her father did his best to reassure her that her day would come. In a few months, it would be her birthday. But today wasn’t her birthday. Today was sister’s day.
“Why is she getting all the good things and no one is giving me anything?”
She and I have a lot in common. The little gal on her daddy’s lap crying about everything she’s not getting. The things it seems everyone else is receiving instead.
“God, I wanted that opportunity!”
“God, I have been asking for that!”
“God, I’ve been eyeing that for a long time!”
“God, I want one of my own!”
Even now, I feel it deep in my soul. Watching others around me receive the things I’ve diligently prayed for, all the while wondering why they’re getting all the things I had hoped were for me.
But it’s not my time right now.
It’s not the right season.
There will be a day when it arrives. A day when it is fulfilled. A day when God grants.
But today is not that day.
It doesn’t mean His love is less, or that His care is waning. After all, His word tells us He shows no favoritism and His love is constant and steady.
And so I keep trusting. And I keep praying, and I keep looking forward to what God will do. Because He might give me that opportunity. He might grant the thing I’ve been asking. He might supply whatever it is I’ve been eyeing.
Or He might do something more. Something even better. Something I’ve yet to consider or even realize.
The same goes for you, too, my friend.
There will come a day. There will be a moment when it all falls into place.
So endure. Keep waiting. Fix your eyes on the horizon.
God has good things in store for you, too.
