Things Too Wonderful

Would you believe that my seven year old daughter had never seen a hedgehog before!  Squirrels we have in abundance.  Mice - too many!  Bats and foxes are common: she watches them from her bedroom window, but for some reason we had been woefully short on hedgehogs… until tonight.

I was washing up when I first saw him, waddling across the lawn as if out for a Sunday stroll.  Of course I shouted the kids straight away, and my son was first on the scene to give this strange creature a cursory glance before he said “Great, Mum” and returned to his computer game.  My daughter - the wildlife enthusiast, who has desperately wanted to see a ‘real’ hedgehog ever since she saw one in a picture book - was slower in coming down from her bedroom and arrived just as he disappeared under a thick holly bush.

Undeterred she set up camp beside the bush (which runs the length of our garden and borders with next door) , declaring her intent to remain there until he came out again, even if it took ‘forever’.  I sat with her for a while, trying to keep he really quiet and still and out of sight of the bush so he wouldn’t know she was there.  Fifteen minutes later I gave up and went back to the washing up, hoping that ‘forever’ wouldn’t last past bedtime.  When I looked out of the window again she was singing  loud ‘hedgehog songs’ and stomping up and down beside the bush. 

And unbelievably, out he waddled.  As she froze with delight at this strange little creature, he pottered up to her feet, gave her sandals a sniff and headed back over the lawn, excited small girl in hot pursuit.

They explored the whole garden together.  She named him Spike.  He didn’t seem to mind.  He drank milk from a saucer as she held it and took bits of chicken from her hand.  When she didn’t follow him into the undergrowth, he came back out as if to find her.  It was quite extraordinary.  She had a magical hour playing with this little hedgehog before regretfully coming in for bed… and I have a feeling he might just be there again tomorrow.  Her perseverance was well rewarded - and then some! 

But I had given up on waiting and gone back to the washing up.

I wonder how often God has been about to reveal Himself to me, when I have given up on waiting and gone back to the mundane?  I wonder how close have I been to breakthrough when I stopped praying? I wonder how many magical times I have missed because I just didn’t wait a little longer?   I wonder how much I have missed because I didn’t really believe anything would happen?

I need to learn to wait.  I need to learn to wait until God reveals Himself to me, and I need to have the persistance  and assurance to carry on waiting even if it takes ‘forever’.  There is a lot about waiting for God in the Psalms.  Psalm 72:14 “Wait for the Lord.  Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord“  It is hard sometimes, waiting for God to reveal Himself in the middle of my husband’s slow recovery from extreme ill health, my son’s struggles with a new gluten free diet, financial difficulties, work stress… But breakthrough will come. 

And until it does, I want to learn to wait as my daughter did: with joy and hope and expectation. 

We don’t have to wait quietly either.  As I’m about as still and quiet usually as my daughter (!), I might just sing loudly and stomp up and down while I’m waiting.  It doesn’t have to be a quiet and contemplative activity - I learnt that today as well.  I think that what God is looking for from us is persistence and faith. 

And He will come.  He always does.

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