John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Purseless. Phoneless. ID-less. That’s how I suddenly found myself the Saturday of Easter weekend.
My husband, daughter, son-in-law and I were in high spirits as we locked the car and started walking along a hiking trail not far from our home. The parking lot was filled with people coming and going, not the place you would expect someone to break into your car. But when we returned from our walk, the window on the driver’s side had been smashed, my purse stolen. In less than 45 minutes someone had brazenly grabbed the opportune time to wreak havoc on our pleasant day.
You can imagine the ensuing whirlwind…canceling credit cards, stopping cell phone service, changing passwords. I don’t know about you, but loose ends have a way of dangling me over an uncomfortable sea of uncertainty. I want to get everything back in order as quickly as possible. But of course it never works that way…
When I went to get my stolen phone replaced, I discovered the AT&T store had also been robbed over the weekend! No new phone until the end of the week. It got worse. The Department of Motor Vehicles informed me (after a very long wait in the lobby) that my Social Security number did not match their records. Someone had inadvertently copied the wrong digit the last time my license was updated. They could not issue me a new driver’s license until I presented them with my social security card (which I lost in high school). This meant going to the Social Security office…twice, because the first time I went they had closed for the afternoon.
Loose ends interrupt our peace. We don’t like undotted i’s and uncrossed t’s. The frenzy surrounding my ordeal posed as a huge distraction. It was the weekend I had wanted to focus on the cross. On the power of Redemption. I almost missed it…
Until I realized it was actually a quite fitting time to experience broken glass and stolen identification. Wasn’t this exactly the season when we celebrate the One who repairs all our shattered windows and restores identities once lost to sin? Jesus meant it when said he was leaving us with his peace. A peace that promises to put all things back in order.
A peace that sustains us through the loose ends of life.
I so enjoyed your devotional “Loose Ends.” It seems to apply to almost every day some months! You captured the emotions of an interrupted day, an interrupted life. I also enjoyed reading your devotionals in the book Rise. I’ve had devotions published in several books and periodicals and am in the process of writing my own devotional book, which should be published late this year (if there aren’t too many more interruptions!) As I have progressed writing the devotionals for my book, I have found that the best topics are those taken from day to day life. I enjoy your website, too.