The moments in-between

My keys have been found. Another teacher saw her keys disappearing into the same black hole that mine obviously went into because when she fished hers out, mine came too. A hole for cords in a desk in the print room, that disappeared into a false panel under the desk has now been plugged by a container of paper clips so noone else has to suffer.
So much about life seems to be about lurching from one trial to the next. This month my bible study pals and I are looking again at Job who would have to be the ultimate perseverer - which my dictionary tells me is not a word - but you know what I mean. I love the little gems in Job, between the questions. I also love the moments in between trials where there is a bountiful "all's well with the world feeling"!  - even when they can seem to be few and far between.

Job 1:21

New Living Translation (NLT)

²¹ He said,

“I came naked from my mother’s womb,
    and I will be naked when I leave.
The Lord gave me what I had,
    and the Lord has taken it away.
Praise the name of the Lord!”  

What I've got is not really mine anyway - just on loan from God and if he needs it back he can take it.We are all so busy building our little kingdoms on this earth that we forget the bigger picture of eternity. No wonder God likes to send prickly circumstances that send us back to himself so he can remind us of why we are here ... and of where we are going. "Is my gloom, after all, shade of his hand outstretched caressingly?"

Job 14:1-14

New Living Translation (NLT)

14 “How frail is humanity!
    How short is life, how full of trouble!
² We blossom like a flower and then wither.
    Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.

How true this is. Some days more than others, I feel frail. I generally don't mind this thought - it makes me feel one with God's creation.
And my personal favourite:

Job 19:25-27

New Living Translation (NLT)

²⁵ “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and he will stand upon the earth at last.
²⁶ And after my body has decayed,
    yet in my body I will see God!^[a]
27 I will see him for myself.
    Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.
    I am overwhelmed at the thought!

I love the glimpses of God that he lets me see in the day to day ordinariness - in my students or in my husband and children or garden. But I'm looking forward to the day I see him face to face. That's going to be a good day!