I was struck with panic today when I turned the page over on my week-at-a-glance calendar to realize that MAY STARTS THIS WEEK! How could we possibly be headed into May, when there is so much I have to get done in April?

So I did what I always do when it seems like I might have too much to do--I made a list. I'm not going to show it to you, because it's just too plain depressing, but the truth is that even if I stayed up all night every night for the rest of the week there is simply no way I could accomplish everything I'm committed to do before Saturday.

This is what I call a Gideon Moment. You remember Gideon, the servant of the Lord who was to lead an army of the Israelites against the Midianites (see Judges 6-8). The Lord looked over his army of 32,000 and said there were too many--if they won, Israel would take the credit themselves and not acknowledge the Lord's hand. So He told Gideon to send away anyone who was afraid, and two-thirds of them left. Still not good enough. Eventually Gideon's army was whittled down to 300 men.

Can 300 men defeat a host "like grasshoppers for multitude"? Not if you're calculating by the world's arithmetic. But they trusted in the Lord, and they did exactly what He told them to do, and they won. Or, rather, He won--and they knew the victory was His because it would have been impossible without Him.

There are regularly times in my life when I can see that it would be utterly impossible for me to do everything I need to. That's when I have to set aside the world's arithmetic and turn it over to the Lord. Whether it's 300 men or 300 minutes, He can make it adequate. I know He helps me--whether it's to enlarge my capacities or to shift circumstances so that deadlines are moved or just to show me what to work on first this day or even this moment. I'm still alive, employed, and married, so I guess I haven't messed up irrevocably yet! That's a victory that belongs to Him, and I'm grateful every day for the mercy it represents.