God is working in you. He wants your plans and your acts to fulfill his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing. Then you will be pure and without blame. You will be children of God without fault among sinful and evil people. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky. You will shine as you hold on tight to the word of life. Then I will be able to boast about you on the day Christ returns. I can be happy that I didn’t run or work for nothing. – Philippians 2:13-16 (NIRV)
I find myself with a litter of kittens in my house. Wendolyn got a message last week from our neighbor who runs an animal shelter asking if she could foster them for six weeks. She was told it was a friendly mother with five kittens. She decided that we could handle that and went to get them. It turned out to be not-anti-social mother with seven kittens, including one that did not look healthy and the mother showing signs of dehydration. So much for an easy start!
She brought them home and we put them in our laundry room. The two of us did our best to kitten-proof the room, making sure there was no way to get back behind the washer and dryer (not that they will be moving far for a couple more weeks, but better to be ready now). We set up a small heater and provided food and water. The first hours felt tense. Wendolyn texted our neighbor to give the updated situation, and got the reply “Maybe you should leave them be for a few hours.” I’m not sure whose benefit the comment was for, but it was the right advice. For the next 24 hours we kept a steady supply of food and water available but otherwise left them alone. After that everyone was pretty much fine and have been healthy and largely self-sufficient. The kittens look and act a bit different every twelve hours or so. Hopefully all will be well for the next month or so.
How easy it is to want to over-manage every situation. We see that things aren’t quite right and so we want to jump in and do something. Yet sometimes the main thing we need to do is step back and allow things to unfold. The challenge is knowing when to hold back and when to jump in, and so it is a huge help to have an outside voice to slow us down when we get too involved or impatient. Our neighbor played that role for us with the kittens. In our life more generally, this is the value of having a devotional time. We get too caught up in our own dramas and issues; taking time to pray or read the bible allows a break in our internal cycle to hear God interrupt us. God can remind us to when we need to let go of control and urge us forth when we need to act. God can remind us to leave things alone for a while and trust that everything will be fine; we can put our trust in God.