Maybe it’s the New Year that brings out the silent questions. This is a bridge of time where we stand suspended, looking behind and before, wanting to know the meaning and significance of the past, wanting to know if any of that is connected to what’s in front.

Since New Year’s Day, I’ve heard from various single women, and their questions are voiced in individual, unique ways, but all ask essentially the same thing. I hear them because they are my friends. I am their confidante, not a guru who can see through the mists of the coming year or years. And while no one on earth has any promise of tomorrow, the single woman’s question is especially piercing because she is alone.

How do I know what I should do for the Kingdom?
I live with regret every single day.
At what point do I go out and make things happen? I’ve been waiting a long time.
Should I start college now? I wonder if I should have done it years ago.
This really isn’t what I had in mind for the next step in my life.

I hear the wistfulness and know the ache and have no answers. I only know the Great Alchemist wastes nothing. And that nothing escapes His attention. Nothing.

In Isaiah 40, the poem reads that He calls the stars out every night by their names, and this answers the question–how can you say ‘my way is hidden from the Lord?’

Maybe answers ARE in the stars.