“When is it the right time to have a baby?”

Well, I daresay.

I have no clue.

This was one of the first questions my newlyweds Sunday school class was asked. About a year ago. I still haven’t forgotten (because reactions were entertaining, to say the least).

The class was split into small groups and asked this question and was then unleashed to talk and debate and hash out some kind of an answer.

There were lots of answers. (All good, logical ones, by the way.)

“When we have more room.”

“When we have more money.”

“When I can make a better dinner than Kraft Mac and Cheese.”

My answer?

“I don’t know. And I don’t pretend to. But goodness knows not right now.”

And still, as a year has passed, more friends get pregnant and more friends get engaged and more friends get married and more friends change jobs and more friends move and I’ve come to realize…

…if there was a “right time” for everything, wouldn’t that be boring? And stressful?

And if it’s true, that there’s one “right time” for everything, what if you miss the “right time” because you weren’t paying attention?

But isn’t God, our Creator, more creative (and abundantly more loving) than that?

My answer to the Sunday school question has changed. Because I think that God, rather than watching and waiting to see if we all make the “right decision” at the “right time,” takes a different approach.

A Fatherly one.

“He has told you, oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8 (emphasis mine)

See, The Lord doesn’t require us to figure out the timeline of our lives. That’s not what His infallible Word says.

Instead, He requires us to commune with Him. To trust Him. *And we can,* because He will “instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; [He] will counsel you with [His] loving eye on you” (Psalm 32:8, emphasis mine).

My answer now to the question “When is the right time to have a baby?” is still I have no clue.

BUT God knows. And He’ll let me know, too. When it’s time.

And that can go with the other fun questions….

“When are you going to find someone to date?”

“When are you going to get married?”

“When are you gonna have another kid?”

“When are you gonna switch jobs?”

“When are you gonna buy a house?”

You know, God knows.

And he’ll let us know.

So we can relax. And enjoy the present moment. Because the future isn’t a maze to figure out.

It’s simply a gift to be opened.