The featured image was a moment in time that I captured two years ago.
Her little body dips to the side as her arms sway to the left and upwards. Her chin is tilted towards the sky as she sings and the sun catches her golden hair. Our grand-daughter, Abi, was 3 years old at the time. She was alone on the edge of the polo field, unaware of anyone else. She did what seems to come naturally to her … like the first time she was with us in the car in the Kruger Park when she was just going two years old. The car window was open. She had stood on my lap and leaned out of the window, raising her arms to the skies. She had sung to the trees, making up her own words. Even then, they made sense.
At the end of 2023, Chris and I were trying to understand some circumstances – some “unanswered prayers”. Faith and fear stand up and face each other off when one deals with uncertainties. “What if?” seems to counter “So what?” and it’s like watching a bully trying to overcome his victim – sometimes one is on top and then suddenly the other one prevails. Who wins in the end? So Chris and I were sitting on the stoep wondering “What if?” when I felt an urge to search my phone gallery for this image. We were both silent as we absorbed the message in the photo. I decided there and then to have it printed on canvas for my office.
When I look at the canvas, I like to remind myself. WE may not have all the details of the full plan. WE may not know exactly what lies ahead or how we will get to our goal or achieve the idea we think we have. Things don’t always go our way. We worry about our kids or parents or friends or business. In fact, we spend so much time worrying about what we don’t understand today, that we miss today’s moment of rapture. When we blink, that moment has passed.
Abigail lifted her hands to the heavens and sang to Someone she could not see. She is still very young and perhaps does not have all the answers. But she is happy to just surrender her day to the Author of all life’s stories. The One who knows the beginning and the end and sees the bigger picture, even when we are surrounded by storms and troubled waters. What childlike faith. What joy unbridled.
So … tilt your chin upwards when uncertain. Let the sun fall on your hair. And sing.
He really does have a plan.
Psalm 139: “I knew your substance before you were formed….
Sandy