11 Million Minutes

Photo Credit:  vilhelm from morgueFile.com

How long would I hope and pray for a miracle?  How many nights would I plead to the Lord before wanting to give up?  How long would I wait for a fervent prayer to be answered?  A day?  A week?  A month?  A year?  21 years?  Let me break it down a little more.  If my math is right, twenty-one years is 7,665 days or 183,960 hours, or 11,037,600 minutes, and I’m wondering if I could possibly wait that long for a miracle?  Hmmmm…not too sure.

However, I do know a special couple who did wait 21 years for one.  AND, their wait was coupled with the fact that doctors told them there was a less than one percent chance that it would ever happen.

Insert faith.  Insert hope.  Insert lots of prayer (and waiting) and all the statistics are washed away.  Against all odds, my friends, Karen and Joe, are expecting their very first baby this Christmas, after 21 long years of waiting.  What a miracle.  What a gift.  I am inspired by their faith in our Lord.

I can’t wait to watch them journey through parenthood - with its countless joys, unimaginable love, and all the little challenges along the way that make life with children so interesting and adventuresome.  Whee!

I marvel at God’s handiwork in our day-to-day lives.  When we least expect it, He shows up.  He is found in someone’s words, someone’s story, a hug, an unexpected note, an inspiring quote, or a miracle two people have longed for.  Medically speaking, my friends were given a whopping 99.5% chance that they would never conceive.  Fortunately, God has no limitations.

When I pondered on just how long 21 years is to wait, I ran across a story that makes me think about time:

“Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with $86,400.  It carries over no balance from day to day.  Whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day is deleted every evening.  What would you do?  Draw out every cent, of course!

Each of us has such a bank and its name is TIME.  Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.  Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever part of this you have failed to invest to good purpose.  It carries over no balance.  It allows no overdraft.

Each day it opens a new account for you.  Each night it burns the remains of the day.  If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours.  There is no going back.  There is no drawing against 'tomorrow.'  You must live in the present on today’s deposits."  Invest wisely, with all that truly matters.

To realize the value of twenty-one years,

Ask Karen and Joe.

To realize the value of four years,

Ask a graduate.

To realize the value of one year,
Ask a student who has failed a final exam.

To realize the value of one month,
Ask the parent of a premature baby.

To realize the value of one week,
Ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize the value of one day,
Ask a daily wage laborer who has a large family to feed.

To realize the value of one hour,
Ask a family waiting at the airport for the arrival of their soldier.

To realize the value of one minute,
Ask a person who has missed a train, bus, or plane.

To realize the value of one second,
Ask a person who survived an accident.

To realize the value of one millisecond,
Ask the person who won the silver medal at the Olympics.

~ Anonymous ~ (and slightly modified by yours truly)

I don’t know about you, but I don’t always value the precious gift of time.  As I ponder the shoulda, coulda, wouldas and spend useless time worrying about the future, I miss the precious present moment.  I try to be conscious of what a waste it is to live in the past or the future, but I still have a long way to go.

However, I do know that the Lord asks us to wait (maybe even 21 years!) and invites us to listen for His Will in our lives.  While we endure the cross of waiting, He also commands us not to fear.  He is a wall of protection around us.  He will shield us from the storm.  If God has our back, why in the world shouldn’t we be able to go forward fearlessly?  Why do we always ponder our Red Sea that lies ahead?  With faith, He will part the waters.

The Lord longs to work miracles in our lives, but sometimes we don’t allow those miracles to happen because of our great unbelief (Matthew 13:58).

Please join me in remembering that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE with God.  A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G.  Yes, even with less than one percent of a chance, God is still in charge.  AND, if I have to wait 11 million minutes for a miracle, I have learned from Karen and Joe that it is INDEED possible.  Thank you for that inspiration my sweet friends.