Maybe Today

Hello, friend. Today I have the joy of introducing you to my sister-in-law, Gina Kelly. We became sisters when I married her brother 28 years ago, but over the last several years I’ve had the honor of serving beside her as a Healing Community leader at Kelley Latta Ministries and watching her minister to hurting hearts through our Love LIVES outreach. God stirred up these words in her heart, and I’d love to share them with you. May her words encourage you as you enter into the hope of promises fulfilled.

Maybe Today

By Gina Kelly

I see Him, but not here and now. I perceive Him, but far in the distant future. A star will rise from Jacob; a scepter will emerge from Israel. Numbers 24:17a, NLT

Maybe today.

From my earliest memories, my uncle has signed every card and email with those words. At first glance, it might appear that he’s speaking of a goal. Maybe today I will win the lottery. Maybe today I will clean out the garage. But the true meaning behind those two simple words is far from any self-made plan or goal. Maybe today…for my uncle…is all about Jesus. Those words declare his hope in God’s promises that are yet to be fulfilled. Maybe today he’ll see Jesus face to face.

For the last several years, we have all wondered if the “today” my uncle longed for was at hand. He has battled various cancers that have not been cured, only managed. He now requires dialysis at home. He has been near death on several occasions. Each time he has rallied. Each time he has continued to wait for the “today” that is promised.

My uncle is waiting for the day that Jesus takes him home to be with Him. Whether Jesus returns in the clouds and fulfills the hope that every person who has placed their faith in Him holds, or if He simply draws my uncle home, my uncle’s greatest hope is found in these simple words: “maybe today.” Maybe today he will stand in the presence of his Savior.

My friends, I am learning from my uncle. It is now difficult for him to talk. Yet his eyes twinkle as he speaks of Jesus. I wonder how my days would look different if the first thought I had each morning were, “Maybe today.” Would my sleep be sweeter if those were the last thoughts as my head hit the pillow? I would like to find out.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. I Corinthians 13:12, ESV

Maybe today…..those words resonate so deeply in my heart as I think of my uncle.

I’m also drawn to think of the Old Testament prophets who faithfully proclaimed God’s promise of a Messiah. My uncle and I wait for a known Savior. Jesus has already come to earth. We have the “full story” of His birth, life, death, and resurrection. We only await the final chapter: His return.

Those prophets trusted in a Savior, the Messiah, who was yet to be revealed. Listen to the words Isaiah penned over seven centuries before Jesus’ birth:

 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.  Isaiah 7:14, ESV

We are familiar with the story of Joseph and Mary. The miracle of a conception by a virgin and the man who chose to stay by her side through it all. Did the prophecy of Isaiah help to bolster Joseph’s faith? Did it lend credibility to the message the angel proclaimed? I believe that both Joseph and Mary were surprised by the “day” they had hoped for and the way in which God showed up on the scene. I know that I would have been a bit astonished by it all!

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. Micah 5:2, NIV

God is so specific in His promises! Over 800 years before Jesus was born, God told Micah that the birth would happen in Bethlehem. I wonder if Isaiah had read the scroll upon which Micah’s words were written? Did he wonder in his day if he would meet the Messiah in Bethlehem? I cannot truly comprehend a gap in time of seven or eight hundred years. A decade to me feels like a long time. Does it to you?

Yet God promises that His timing is perfect. What seems to my finite heart to be a “really long time” is but a tiny speck in light of eternity. I believe that learning to live with a grateful heart, as Kelley shared in her last Word on Wednesday post, is key to making our waiting – our “maybe today” lives – joyful. Too many times we try to carry our burdens as we wait for the day promised. We carry burdens that Jesus desires for us to lay at His feet.

Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to us.

Jesus came to earth as a baby over two thousand years ago, fulfilling the words of the prophets. The whole world pauses to remember His birth each December 25^th. Gifts are given and received as we remember the greatest gift of all; the gift of life Jesus gave to each of us who placed our faith in His death and resurrection for our salvation. He fulfilled the “maybe today” longing of the hearts of those who faithfully looked for His coming.

My uncle reminds me of the promises of God yet to come. As I type these words tonight, he is having yet another surgery. My family and I do not know what the outcome will be. But we do know that the greatest joy my uncle will one day have will be standing in the presence of Jesus. I want to spend my days in grateful anticipation of the day I see Jesus face to face. Don’t you?

It has been my joy to share with you today.

Maybe today…