During that day of endure-ment that you read about last week, at one point in time I looked at the clock. It was 3:33 exactly. There’s nothing real monumental in that fact, other than I thought what one normally thinks when they look at the clock and it’s 11:11, 2:22, 1:11, or any other time such as these where all the numbers match. No, it’s not really significant, but it’s just interesting when you happen to be looking at the clock and all the numbers happen to be the exact same. It had been a quiet, tough day, and at the end of it I decided to edit my book. Up till then, it was just a bunch of words, stories, some with poems, some poems without stories, some Bible scripture, some missing, and I hadn’t even directed the computer to “page number” it yet. I had about sixty pages, and sixty pages was even too much for me, the writer, to have sixty pages without a table of contents. I thought that I should at least start cleaning it up. I thought it would be an easy task, also: not much “thinking” involved. I really needed to clean up the last chapter written so far, “Here’s a thought…” but I didn’t have the energy to, so, I edited and began to construct my table of contents instead. At least that’s what I thought I was going to do.
If you are a creative person, you will really be able to relate to what I am about to say. If you aren’t a “creative” person, if you are more “mainstreamed, more logical, more straightforward, you will at least enjoy hearing about what I am about to say, because we can all learn from each other’s experiences, no matter how differently we may think. Exhaustion began to set in around midnight. I wondered if I would even be able to merely edit on this particular evening because, as I had said, “it had been a quiet, tough day.” But, I began to feel a message emerge from within. I began to feel the presence of peace, the environment I needed in which to “write” something new; I began to feel the love of God in the air. If you aren’t a “spiritual person”, if that’s what you want to call me, but you are a “creative person,” well then, you can think of how you feel when you are about to create something, write a poem, write a song, or draw an image from your heart. Inspiration began to come, and I quickly moved down to the next blank page in this book, and I wrote, “I was wondering.” I didn’t write about all the details that I was wondering about, because the particulars didn’t matter. I just wrote about wondering, and I wrote the poem as if listening for the next word. When I got done, I was so excited! It was as if I had written and read it for the first time, at the same time. I felt that it was a gift from God, to let me know that I didn’t need to wonder any more. The poem was gift enough, but I went to my Bible in search of God’s Word that would fit this particular poem perfectly. Through prayer, the concordance, and page turning, I turned to Jeremiah 33:3. When I typed the verse “Call to me, and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know,” I smiled. When I typed the numbers of that verse (333) I took a deep breath in, and I said, “Thank you God.” You see, the verse was 33:3: the verse that I needed that day, and I immediately remembered looking at the clock at 3:33 earlier that day. There was nothing significant about the time, other than the fact that I remembered that the numbers were all the same, and that it was interesting at the time, but now, NOW, 333 came to represent a quiet reminder from God that even though I could not see Him at 3:33 that day – He could see me. And He reminded me through that verse that yes, He is always with me, even when I feel that He’s far away. He said that He would never leave us or forsake us: He keeps His promises.
So, Warrior Moms, when you have a day like mine, and it’s quiet and tough and it all seems insignificant, look at the clock. What time is it? Do all the numbers happen to match? Well, remember this simple little story about how I looked at the clock at 3:33 one day and how later God brought me to Jeremiah 33:3. And if you read this chapter in this book, and forget about it, and move on with your life, don’t worry about missing the significance; God will remind you in His time…if you were wondering.
A FRIEND LOVES AT ALL TIMES (3:33)
A friend loves at
All times
Is what’s been told to me
And the Bible says a brother is born
For adversity
I would imagine that is why
Jesus calls us friend
Because in it there’s no sibling rivalry
In which to contend
A friend loves from afar
And as close as the heart
A friend knows sometimes silence
Is all that they can take part
Silence just to be there to offer their presence
Because friends understand
Even those things that don’t make sense
Yes a friend loves at all times
Even when you don’t think they are
Like the fact that stars are still lit
In the daytime from afar
It’s just that we don’t notice them
When there’s light all around
It’s only when the dark emerges
That we notice their glittering crown
And so I say a friend
Loves at all times yes indeed he does
If for no other reason than simply
Just because
Love,
Kristina
A friend loves at all times
Proverbs 17:17
Kristina Seymour loves to encourage and equip women through the Word and through community. She is the author of The Warrior Mom Handbook, The Warrior Mom Leadership Manual, and The Warrior Wife Handbook; they are available at Amazon.com. Kristina's Bible studies are for women who desire to live by faith in the midst of their everyday lives. She has learned that women can't survive on caffeine and animal crackers alone; women in the Word and in community are united and able to stand firm. To learn more about Kristina, please visit her website, https://kristinaseymour.com/. God loves to share His story of love and grace through us all, and Kristina believes that everyone has a story to tell.