The homily this morning discussed perfect timing. I have lived it – today most noticeably.
The priest was talking about how one of the ceramic Stations of the Cross stations was broken last year in the late summer/early autumn. It was shattered – the kind of broken that superglue alone doesn’t really fix even with all the patience in the world. Soon thereafter, he met with a friend about something completely unrelated in a different state and the friend mentioned the local parish getting some ceramics refurbishing done. The interaction led to him contracting that company to try to fix or replace the broken station. They did a fantastic job, and delivery was this week. It is hanging in its proper place now – just in time to kick off Lent next week.
You know the feeling of perfect timing? Sometimes it seems as mundane as the light changing to green just before you pump the brakes; other times you walk into a store just as a sale kicks off on precisely what you went in to buy. (The latter happened to me when I went to purchase specialty chocolates for an event: everything that I was interested in went to 75% off for about thirty minutes before it was removed from the shelves due to season change. Instead of hoping to get enough with $30, I walked out having spent less than half that and knowing there would be leftovers of some of the best chocolate. That was epic.)
I hit the jackpot with perfect timing today: I arrived at Mass just as it was starting (despite my waking up twenty-plus minutes late), I got to a meeting just as the person I was looking for arrived, I ran into someone I needed to speak to who only ducked into the office for a few minutes between outside meetings, and I found my Children’s Bible yesterday when our topic today for Alpha was How and Why Should I Read the Bible? … Unfortunately, that last one was lost on me; even though I coordinate for Alpha (meaning I send out the emails reminding the team what each session will be discussing), I forgot that tonight was about the Bible and left mine next to the door. Oy vey. I also ran into someone who told me Catholics don’t read the Bible. (Maybe this whole thing is really perfect timing the other way around: now that I found it, I need a reminder and some encouragement to read it. Message received.)
And that’s just today: I had a perfect meshing on Monday as well. (It’s not quite timing, but it’s related.) I traveled for a meeting on Monday to the same area I have choir practice, so I decided to pack a bag and just stay for the day. I had several hours between the meeting and rehearsal, but I had plenty to do that went with me. As I put my car in park and reached for the door to walk to choir practice, I realized that I didn’t have any of my music. Ugh. I resigned myself to having to borrow some, copy the night’s notes onto my copies, and returning the extra copies later. But when I walked up to the choir loft, I found nobody; the place was vacant. I texted a friend who promptly replied that practice was canceled due to the holiday.
Imagine the chances of that: the one time I leave all of my music at home is the one time that we don’t have rehearsal and the one time I missed the memo that we didn’t have rehearsal.
There are so many perfect timing or “happy coincidence” stories in my life that I simply cannot remember even half of them. For example, I also dressed particularly professionally (and chic) today for a meeting and ran into someone I didn’t expect to see; the circumstance made me smile a little extra. Also, I needed a piece of scrap paper to write some notes on, and one piece of paper turned up that wasn’t fit for any other use. Moreover, someone who has attended very few sessions attended tonight, and she was precisely the person I needed to talk to about an opportunity that presented itself yesterday which I find both daunting and thrilling. These examples are just from this evening.
But enough about me; how about you? What times can you reflect on in your life in which you approached a table, topic, or person just at the right time? How have things fallen together just right? When is the last time you read something that struck a chord? Have you ever said something that you weren’t expecting to say to someone only to find that was precisely what that person needed to hear? How do you trust God to let some of the pieces to your puzzle fall into perfect place?
