Enough

            I enjoy doing yard work with my husband.  Spreading beauty bark is one of my favorite tasks.  I love the smell of the bark.   I especially like the way it makes the yard look fresh and well groomed.  I’ve noticed, though, that no matter how often we’ve purchased and spread bark on our flowerbeds, we never think we'll have enough.  The amount never changes, but when we’re in the middle of the project it doesn’t seem like it will stretch to cover the entire area we’re working.  Yesterday was no exception. 

            “We’re not going to have enough,” my husband sighed as he loaded the wheelbarrow. 

            “Maybe it will stretch,” I offered.

            “I doubt it,” he said, and, looking at what was left in the trailer, I agreed.

            But just like every other time, we had just enough, no more, no less than we needed.  We should know by now that we can trust the size of the trailer and the amount of bark, but we always doubt.  Every single time.

            I’m the same way when it comes the goodness and grace of God.  When facing a problem, I cannot fathom how it will work out.  I do not know the path to resolution.  Sometimes I don’t know if it can be resolved, but I give my problem to God anyway.  I wait.  I worry.  I doubt that He will have the ideas or time or power to work it all out.  I forget that He’s the same God who created the universe, came to earth in the form of man, did not sin, took all of our sin on Himself and died anyway and rose again.  I forget that He is all-knowing, all-present and all-powerful.  He may not work things out the way I would like – in the way I would do it, but His way is always the best and the most surprising and perfect. 

            And just like the beauty bark, His grace stretches and covers every corner of my life, my problem, and my situation. Perfectly.  He makes all things beautiful in His time (Ecclesiastes 3:11).        Every single time.