It's all in the timing.

We are not even halfway through branding this year's calves, and we've been stalled. Rain, rain, and rain. Wet or muddy calves cannot be branded. It will cause scalding and scarring. A bad brand. Undue pain for the calves.

Not one acre of the 3500 acres to be seeded has been planted. Today is June 18. The seeding can't wait much longer.

We check the forecast on the Weather Channel several times a day, sometimes several times an hour. Plan and re-plan. Watch the skies. And wait.

I'm sure we can all point to times when, if things has been "on time," our lives would have been a little different. Couldn't find our keys or phone. Had to change an untimely wet diaper. The delay, maybe only mere seconds, meant avoiding a calamity. Or meeting someone who arrived at exactly that moment.

A year ago, I wondered if I should go to the FaithWriters Conference in Detroit, MI. It's a long way from here, and not an inexpensive venture. I pondered and wondered and finally made a deal with myself. If I could sell my mini-van, I'd go to the conference. The van had been in storage for two years. I hadn't wanted to deal with the emotional baggage of letting it go. Barely a month before the conference, I lay snuggled in bed, about to open my mouth to ask "the cowboy" if we couldn't get the van out that afternoon, clean it up, and park it out by the highway with a "for sale" sign on it.

I never got a chance to ask him. The phone rang. It was a dear friend. I hadn't spoken to her in nearly two years, and in the middle of our catching up, she asked if I still had my mini-van and was it for sale.

By that afternoon, the van was cleaned, washed, tires changed, and SOLD. For exactly the price of a round trip ticket to Detroit, my friend drove away in the van. I don't know which of us felt more blessed.

Timing is everything.

Will we get the crop in this year? Who knows?
Will we have to go to Plan B for branding? Maybe.
With unwavering confidence, I know this season will pass into the next, with its own challenges and certainties.

In the meantime, I have some inside chores to catch up on. Reading. Writing. Quilting. Baking. Watching my garden grow.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1