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Thursday, November 13, 2008

animal crackers

I wasn’t going to write a blog tonight but certain events have happened today to cause me to need to put thoughts on paper (though I’m not using paper but beside the point – just an expression). I was talking to an oh, so wise person today and she gave me her point of view regarding a situation in my life. She didn’t necessarily give me the answer I wanted to hear but the answer I needed to hear and I’ve been meditating on it all day.

We all have desires that are really special to us and sometimes we become impatient while waiting on God to fulfill them. A little while ago, our college group had a discussion about waiting on God and someone (shout out to Seana!) used the example of waiting on God as waiting on a made-to-order cookie. We can have complete understanding that our cookie is being prepared or even merely cooling off but sometimes we just decide we’re through waiting and we stomp off, rummaging through the closet and settling for stale animal crackers (not even the Barnum kind but the generic ones). Yet, if we could have just waited a few more minutes, we could have had the cookie made just for us! Why is it when we’re the closest to receiving our answer that we throw in the towel? We can’t hang in there for a few more minutes because we’re just…too…tired. I find that so frustrating because I know if I can just keep trusting God instead of trying to make it happen on my own, it’ll turn out so much better than I could have planned.

A verse that this wise person gave me, though I’ve heard it and know it and say it all the time, really spoke to me because she used a different translation than what I’m used to. It’s Jeremiah 29:11 from the Message: “I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” What really got to me and I’m fighting tears right now is the tail end of the passage. If we can trust God and not become impatient, He’ll show us “plans to give you the future you hope for.” If we can fully comprehend God’s love for us and that He wants nothing but the absolute best for us, we can make ourselves wait on Him and His timing. Is it easy? Not by a long shot. But is it worth it? You bet.

I have one more verse that came to mind when I was thinking about all of this. It’s John 15:7: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” My pastor talked about this verse one Sunday and said that when we truly seek God’s will, then we want what He wants and are prayers will be answered. We can’t push our agenda on God, throwing bits and pieces of scripture at Him in order to justify our requests. We have to be in line with what He wants for us and trust that He really does know best. I’ve thought about it like this: if I really wanted something but knew it wasn’t God’s best for me, would I still want it? Surrendering our desires to God is soooo hard sometimes because we can become afraid that He’ll not answer like we want Him to. However, if we trust Him like we should, we’ll be able to rest in the fact that when He does answer us it’ll be absolutely amazing – just like when you’re able to take the first bite of that made-to-order cookie.

1 comment:

  1. what's so important about setting high bars is that if we don't, we won't ever push ourselves beyond what's expected of us or what others (or even ourselves) think we're only capable of. i find it ironic that while we claim to only want to fit in, we also want to be noticed and given the self-imposed glory we think we're due whenever we do dare to leave the anonymity provided by being in a crowd.

    i love the fact that you know who you are, are confident in being the awesome girl God created you to be, and have an attitude of not settling. you're right; it can be so easy to just give up and accept that we can't do whatever it is we're aiming for - it's too hard, i'm too tired or whatever excuse we choose to claim. yet, if we're honest, what out there that's worth having is easily obtained? earning something and being handed something are two totally different things and each fosters a different attitude; one is appreciation while the other is expectation.

    wow, didn't mean to say all that. i only wanted to say you brought up some great points and i think you're worth a ginormous, mouth watering chocolate chip cookie too :-)

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