This morning, we woke to unexpected overcast skies, muting the expected change of leaves. Red maples, pink oak-leaf hydrangeas, yellow sassafras leaves shaped like mittens and gloves. Sheer delight, but this year, an unexpected trial: it’s dry, bone dry.

Unexpected trials

Yesterday in church, we celebrated the work of the Lord in the lives of His saints: All Saints Day. We recognized the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those called to glory through faith in Jesus Christ—four in our congregation in the past year and many more in our hearts. 

A loved one’s death is hard for those left to grieve. An expected hardship that takes unexpected forms. Of course, we anticipate being with them one day in the presence of the LORD our God, so we must be ready for that expected yet “What, you mean, now?” unexpected changes that can catch us by surprise. Death and the return of our Lord.

Unexpected changes

The coming of the Messiah was expected, as the Old Testament prophets prophesied. Yet His actual coming was totally unexpected at the time. And the way He came, and the words He spoke. His return, though expected, will be unexpected, too.

The Day of the Lord will come “as a thief in the night” appears in some form several times in the New Testament, for instance, Matthew 24:43, 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and 5:4, 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 16:15. We should be ready for His return, as in the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. Five wise women took oil along for their lamps; the five foolish took lamps but not oil—and were not ready to when the bridegroom arrived to welcome them to the Lord’s wedding banquet. The moral of the story: “keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

To those who do not prepare for the expected, the unexpected happens—and it can be disastrous. God is good, merciful, and full of grace, but there is a final reckoning. And the door will shut.

Unexpected gifts

Last week, I received totally unexpected gifts from my neighbors: this personalized leather-covered journal and an Amazon gift card. I had resigned as secretary-treasurer for our neighborhood property owners’ association after five years of service, and these beautiful and generous gifts were in thanks for my “hard work and dedication to our community.” While it’s an honor to serve others, it’s also prudent to know when to step back from one mission and move to the next calling.

Poet Oliver Wendell Holmes is thought to have coined the phrase, “Some people are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good,” a saying Johnny Cash made even more famous in a 1977 song entitled, “No Earthly Good.” I’m not sure I’ve ever met people so heavenly minded that they’re no earthly good. But the opposite made me wonder: Am I so earthly minded that I’m no heavenly good?

With Thanksgiving and the season of Advent approaching, I think about a life formula I wrote about last year: origin + destination = route. As a child of God, I know my origin and what is in store for me, my expected destination. But my route has included some unexpected trials and changes. And although I wasn’t always grateful for them, they have made me both less earthly minded and more earthly good in unexpected ways.

Linkup with Five Minute Friday: https://fiveminutefriday.com/2024/10/31/fmf-writing-prompt-link-up-unexpected/