The blessing of fetching my grandbabies from preschool and elementary school is mine. The Kindergartener and Second Grader instructed this Grammy to follow their dismissal guidance. Plain, simple and not to be disregarded, I am to make sure my car is parked between Letter A and Letter H in the car pick-up lane. This guarantees that they will be in the first group dismissed. Assuredly, I promised I could, and would, adhere to their request/rule.
Well, at the time of pledging my compliance, little did I realize occupying space between A and H translates into the necessity of pulling into the school dismissal lane no later than 60 minutes (yes, one hour!) before school ends. Accepting the reality of sitting idle anywhere for ions, though totally foreign to my being, I was able to tackle because I sensed how deep a show of love this would be for my grandbabies.
For me, it is natural, expected and normal to hurry and scurry for my family. However, to forego the hamster-cage treadmill of life and patiently sit, give up my control and let another’s timing take precedent over mine is completely alien to my way (and routine) of life. My norm is a plateful day. Equally common for me is to overload my plate if family need arises. I’m actually quite proficient in this less than God commanded (or healthy) habit. No, I am not meaning to compliment myself. Criticizing my overzealous downfall is actually my intent.
Back to prolonged sitting in the car pick-up line — the lesson learned is maybe running a marathon race is not as much an award-winning victory as leaving the rat race to wait in place for God’s gift of helping bring a child of God home.
One question might arise from hearing I’ve chosen to sit still and wait patiently during the drag of prolonged time. How do I pass the, seemingly, endless time? God, not I, led to the answer. In the solitude of my parked car, I read God’s Word. My Bible becomes my parked car’s steering wheel. Miraculously, what I anticipated to be the hands of a clock moving in slow motion is, in reality, the Hands of God filling fleeting moments of time with His timeless treasure of His wisdom, grace and salvation.
In truth, I wish for all the gift of sitting parked in a school, pick-up line. “Be Still and Know That I Am God.” Psalm 46:10 (ESV)
