Jumping the Gun!

 

Imagine that you are in the stands watching a competitive swim meet between two high school girl’s teams. The announcer calls for the swimmers in the 50-yard breaststroke to take their positions on the starting blocks. After taking a few minutes to get ready, the starter raises his gun in the air, says, “On your mark, get set…” but before he can fire the gun there’s a splash.

One of the girls, eager to get a good start leans out a little too far, loses her balance and does a front flip into the water. While she is getting back on the block, the starter says in a very loud voice for all in the stands to hear, “That’s my girl!”

On their second attempt, the swimmers wait until after they hear the gunshot and then fling their arms outward, at the same time giving a mighty push with their legs. They flatten their bodies, tuck in their chins and hit the water, each trying to swim the two laps of breaststroke faster than the others.

The swimmer with the false start turned out to be me. I was happy that there wasn’t a second false start or my dad, who happened to be starting that meet, would have had to disqualify me from the race! Being a little too eager to get off the starting block could have backfired!

Recently, a friend commented that I tend to jump the gun in certain situations. Although it stung a little, I had to admit that there was truth to her criticism. Yes, there were several times that I could remember being the first one to raise my hand in class after the teacher had asked a question without really thinking about the answer beforehand, and being embarrassed when it was wrong.

During my adult years there have been occasions that I’ve offered to do things without considering all the ramifications. It has taken a long time to learn that as a follower of Christ, it is important to follow Him, not run ahead of Him!

When problems are encountered, praying and waiting on the Lord for guidance has proven much better than trying to figure out what to do on my own. Now that is not easy for an impatient, impulsive person. But remembering how He has been faithful to guide me in the past makes it much easier to trust Him with the present, and in future situations too.

I was perplexed about what to do on Thanksgiving Day when it came time to prepare the dinner. A neighbor was bringing over a boxed turkey dinner for four people at 11:00 a.m. and then was going to come back around 1:00 for the meal.

“I plan to eat,” said neighbor Jim, grinning. “But there will be plenty of left-overs!” Three of us and food for four!

 He had printed out the directions for warming the turkey and side dishes and had brought them by our house the day before Thanksgiving, to give me enough time to look them over.

Heating everything up didn’t seem that complicated though.

However, the directions didn’t seem to fit the meal we had ordered.  Warming precooked, sliced turkey for two hours in a foil pan seemed to be too long. Who likes dried out turkey? What time should it be started?  I sure didn’t want to jump the gun!

 Jim dropped off the food at 11:00 as arranged. I was still trying to figure out what to do when Al walked into the kitchen.  

“What’s this for?” he asked, holding up a folded piece of paper on the counter.

It was the directions for cooking dinner for four people, exactly what was needed! Somehow, I had overlooked that paper when unpacking the box. The directions I had been looking at on Jim’s printout previously were for ten!

Knowing the correct starting time for the turkey made the coordinating of heating the potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans and stuffing easy. The rolls only needed to be warmed. We three enjoyed our boxed dinner and each other’s company too.

Well, I’m still learning to wait on the Lord, expecting that He will hear me and lead me in the right direction. His timing is always perfect! God is good!  

 

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning…” Psalm 130:5-6 NIV