WARNING: Poor Analogy to Follow

“Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come. It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert. Therefore, be on the alert—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep. What I say to you I say to all, ‘Be on the alert!’”  Mark 13:33-37 (NAS)

            I am very aware that this passage is talking about the Christian’s readiness for the second coming of Christ, but I see a lot of parallels between this and our adoption. In just the first verse, we are reminded that “you do not know when the appointed time will come”. Adoptions work completely to the opposite of pregnancies in this regard. With a pregnancy, you are given a “due date”—in my case more of a rough estimate—and you can begin planning with that date in mind. With an adoption, you are basically waiting on papers to be pushed, agencies to coordinate, the stars and planets to align, etc. There is no “due date” given. It’s really just wait for the phone call. That wait can be the most frustrating, heart-wrenching thing you do.

            We are also reminded FOUR times in this passage to “be on (keep on, stay on) the alert.” Continuing my poor analogy, this means for me that Trey and I must learn all we can about international adoptions, make needed changes to our home (see the previous blog), get copious amounts of paperwork pulled together, and pray like crazy. We can never just sit back and wait for the phone call. We must be busy every day preparing for the additions to our family. To refrain from doing so demonstrates a carelessness so tragic, so selfish, that I haven’t the words to express it.

            So no matter how frustrating and heart-wrenching the wait becomes, we press forward. We continue to prepare our home and our hearts. We find things to do in the expectation that the call WILL come, even though we don’t know when. And I am reminded that I must also do the same as I wait for Christ’s return.