Anyone who is my age or there abouts or who has children my age or there abouts should remember good old Timothy Traddle.
He is the turtle from Kideo – or maybe a tortoise, I’m not too sure. Turtle or tortoise is beside the point though, the point is the song he sang – cue singing in your head. He had two theme songs, one for when he was feeling down. Some of his lines were “I don’t know what to do, I haven’t got a clue, I don’t know what to do.”
That has been my week. Well couple weeks. Really month. No, wait, two months. Actually this whole year. Since Peter was born. Maybe even before. But specially the last few weeks. I didn’t know what to write about this week. (I thought about thankfulness but great minds think alike and Naomi beat me to it – read about it here). I don’t know how to get my children to sleep; I don’t know what to feed Tim; I don’t know how to prioritize my time and get it all done; I don’t know how to help some of my patients. I feel like Timothy Traddle – I don’t know what to do, I haven’t got a clue. I feel like the answer to just about every question is: I don’t know.
But there are one or two things I do know. I know that God is in control of all things. I know that I will make it through this very difficult time with His strength. I know that He has given me the most amazing husband and wonderful family and friends. I was telling someone about my birthday party last week and their comment was “you have a great support network”. They are right, I do. When all that I don’t know threatens to overwhelm me, I start to tell myself what I do know. Over and over and over again I tell myself. It works usually. If it doesn’t I call my mom and she usually makes it all better 🙂
The other thing that often helps, are the good old hymns. They are so full of theology and beautiful lyrics and peaceful melodies. The one that has been playing in my mind this week is called I cannot tell. You can listen to it here. Forgive the old fashioned video and focus on the song. I love the end of each verse, reminding of what we know; the last verse especially.
This I know, the skies shall sound His praises.
Ten thousand thousand human voices sing
And earth to heaven and heaven to earth shall answer
At last the Saviour, Saviour of the world is King!
This week my prayer is that I and all of us, would not be bogged down by the temporary things which we do not know. Instead, may we rejoice in that which we know to be solid, true and everlasting.