This morning the pastor preached about being generous with our time, both to God and others. Before he began with prayer, he asked if we’d all put our hands out in front of us, palms up, as an outward sign of inner readiness to receive from God. Though I’d never done that before, today I did, mostly because I wanted to be on the receiving end from him.

God didn’t waste any time in making his deposit. After the pastor’s “amen,” I glanced to my right where I saw Birgitta’s hands still upturned. Resting in them was the sweet head of her little Emerald looking up at her, and that’s when God made his deposit. “See those hands?” he said to me. “Birgitta didn’t have to ask me to fill them this morning. They’re full with Emerald.”

I thought of the freeing nature of Birgitta’s not having to wonder what to do with her time. Her God-given assignment was literally in her hands. Sure, she’s added university classes and other things, but Emerald is God’s #1 for her. And he’s willing, even eager, to give each of us a #1.

So how do we know when our hands are already full with his choice or if it’s time to turn palms up for a new deposit?

I remember a day one year ago, before I learned Birgitta was pregnant. I’d finished a busy period writing Hope for an Aching Heart and had a little time on my hands for the first time since before Nate died. Then one afternoon I found myself rifling through a basement bin of old videos.

Finding a boxed season of “Little House on the Prairie,” I took it upstairs, got something to eat, and put on the first show. When it finished, I clicked into a 2^nd, and when I realized I’d been sitting there nearly 2 hours already and was contemplating watching a 3^rd, I couldn’t believe it.

The next morning I asked God how he wanted me to use my new-found time, knowing his answer wouldn’t be, “Watch videos.” This was a moment when open hands, palms up, would have been a good idea. His prior #1 had been completed, and he was about to give me a new assignment. I didn’t know it then, but soon I’d be helping Birgitta and Emerald. Coupled with that, he was also going to give me a new book to write.

And so today in church, God did deposit a message into my open palms. It was this: “I’ve already filled your hands for now. When it’s time for a refill, I’ll let you know.”

(And he’ll probably do it when I’m back in the basement, rifling through a bin of videos.)

“It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” (Acts 1:7)