Oohs and Ahhs of Exile

Always anxious to show off some newly discovered skill or knowledge, Squirts noticed the digital clock at the front of the car. From the back, he pointed and said, “Daddy, it’s 10:51. I know that number. That 5 and 1 make 51! It’s 10:51.”

Always anxious to affirm his newly discovered skill or knowledge, I make the appropriate “oohs” and “ahhs” about how smart he must be to know it’s 10:51.

Never let it be said that my son doesn’t know how to milk a moment: He begins singing at full volume “10:51, 10:51, 10:51, 10:51,” his voice moving progressively up the musical scale which each utterance of the time.

I think (to myself this time), “Wow, that sounds really good! Maybe the boy will be able to sing like his mommy and not his daddy! Please God, let him sing like his mommy and not his daddy!”

And then the clock changes. 10:52. “Look Daddy, it’s 10:52! I know that number. The 5 and 2 make 52! It’s 10:52!” The singing continues, “10:52, 10:52, 10:52, 10:52,” up the scale we go.

Until 10:53. And it begins again.

Did I mention that we are in the early part of our 30 minute journey to church?

By 10:59, what began as cute has become bang-your-head-on-the-steering-wheel annoying. What began as sweet has now pushed me to the point of having to hold tightly onto the steering wheel to keep it from veering into the other lane of traffic just to stop the sound.

And then the clock changes again. 11:00. The singing stops.

I can hear the wheels turning in the back seat when Squirts says, “Hmph. Daddy, how do you say that?”

“That’s 11 o’clock.”

“O’clock? What’s an o’clock?” Squirts asks.

“That’s just what we say when it’s this time of day.”

“Why don’t we say zero clock? That’s not an O. O’s are round. That’s a zero. Zeroes are oval. Shouldn’t we say, zero clock?” Squirts proposes.

And the conversation continues for nine more minutes about the many logical reasons we should say 11-zero-clock, 11-zero-one, 11-zero-two, and so on.

I actually find myself praying for the clock to make it to 11:10 so we can get back to the timeline singing exercises!

How many times in life do we find ourselves choosing between the lesser of two evils? Or how often do we believe that accepting unhappiness or an unhappy situation is the reality of life? Or why do we accept the idea that the possibilities for our lives aren’t as bright as the possibilities for someone else’s life?

As I look back over my SoulSquirts posts this year, this theme seems to occur over and over. There just seems to be so much pain and despair in the world. So much so, that we start to believe that’s the way it’s meant to be. We get so beat down by the bad news that we start to accept this is all life has to offer.

But God tells us otherwise.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

When God created each of us, the only hope God had for our future was for one of good. Not bad. Sometimes, the choices we make or the whims of nature put a stumbling block in our path to that future, but God holds it there for us.

In this passage from Jeremiah, God is talking to the exiles taken from Jerusalem to Bablyon. We often lift this passage up to demonstrate God’s hope for our future. But immediately before reminding them of the plans for the future of the exiles, God lays out their role in that future.

God tells them that while in exile, they should build houses and make themselves at home; grow gardens and eat the food; marry and raise families. God instructs the exiles to be productive and fruitful even while in their time of exile. God tells the exiles that if things go well for Babylon, their place of exile, it will go well for them too.

Yes, God has a plan to give each of us a hope and a future. But God expects us to do our part as well. When times are tough, it’s easy to wallow in our pain. It’s easy to sit and wait for God to open the doors to our future and then to wonder why those doors stay shut.

When times are tough, that’s when I think God expects us to be the most productive. We don’t have to relegate ourselves to choosing between the lesser of two evils. We don’t have to accept life’s difficult situation as the way it has to be. We don’t have to believe that what we have to offer the world is any less valuable than what anyone else has to offer the world.

We times our tough—when we find ourselves in our own little exiles—that’s the time to  build our houses and make ourselves at home. That’s the time to do all that we can to better our lives in the place we are. That’s the time to make a plan for our future with confidence that what God told those early exiles will be true for us too: If things go well in our place of exile, they will go well for us as well.

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