Archive for God's Plans
The Quest
Posted by: | Comments“It’s a curious thing about quests, isn’t it, Mr. Quirk?” she said. “The seeker embarks on a journey to find what he wants and discovers, along the way, what he needs.”
I put the novel down.
It was one of those moments when I realized that something significant was about to happen, if I’d pause long enough to let it. If I would stop long enough to get the impact of the words.
The words tumbled within me. I felt drawn to them; to ponder them; to absorb more than their surface meaning.
The paradox of it struck me. Yes, how often do I, do we all actually, pursue something we want only to find that what we really need is quite different indeed? But somehow we are unable to find it without the journey itself which often proves rocky, curvy, dangerous, and on a surface glance, absolutely undesirable.
We have a goal, a desire, a drive. We aim at it. We head toward it, often in the only way we know how, but somehow, almost mystically along the journey, its pull on our hearts disappears. We find, in a way that looks to be accidental, what our hearts really needed.
How can it be that when we find ourselves in the darkest situations, “Yea, though I walk through the valley…” where the shadows are all around us, “of the shadow of death…”, and we initially feel our goal is just to get out of this awful place, that suddenly we can experience God along the way, “I will fear no evil…”, finding that He is with us? “for He is with me.”
Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..
Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin
Waiting on God
Posted by: | CommentsWaiting on God
As I entered the hospital, I heard a woman say “We’re just waiting to see.” Directly behind her was the newspaper stand. The newspaper headline spoke of having to wait. I thought of how many times we say “I’m just waiting on God.” Implied is “There is nothing I can do about this.” Sometimes implied is “I have no idea where God is in this situation.” I began to think about how spiritual it sounds to say, “I am waiting on God.” It sounds so holy. So Christian. So patient. So obedient.
But then I thought of how it feels in spite of the facade we put up when we say “We’re just waiting” as if we are at peace with the wait. I thought of it in this way:
Waiting on God
I feel the unanswered questions
And I struggle to relinquish control
I try to quiet my mind and
bridle my emotions
I feel the inner frustration
And the need to be at peace
“Where are you, God?
How can I interpret your silence?”
It may sound spiritual
But it feels restless
The deep longing for God
To prove He is alive
Waiting on God
David said
“I pour out my soul within me”
Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..
Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin
Can Someone Else Kill Your Dream?
Posted by: | CommentsLast night I watched American Idol. I watched as many contestants were eliminated. Some cried. Some were angry. Some talked about how this failure would not take their dream away, yet many responded indicating that this rejection was, in fact, the death of their dreams. They were angry at the judges for not seeing the talent within them and for denying them the dream of their hearts.
I felt reflective as I watched. I wondered, “Can someone else kill your dreams?”
I’ve certainly experienced times when people misunderstood my dreams, shamed me for dreaming, called my dreams impossible or foolish. I imagine we have all experienced that.
And how have we responded?
….in anger?
…in disappointment?
…in resolve to never give up?
…in retreat by learning to hide that dream somewhere deep within us?
…in fear?
…in rejection?
Oh, there are many ways we respond to the dream killers. They are probably people who themselves have allowed their dreams to shrivel up and die. Therefore, they respond in anger or frustration or manipulation when they see a dream living in someone else – especially if that dream has a semblance of their own dream.
People in the church are typically more likely to be dream killers than those outside the church walls. Sadly, I’ve found it true so many times. They respond to our dreams with cautions and boundaries. Yet many times the outside world understands dreaming better than the church world.
Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..
Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin
Dreamland
Posted by: | CommentsDreamland…a pleasant, lovely land that exists only in dreams or the imagination
If your reality could be like your dreamland, what would your life be like?
When we are children, it is easy to dream or imagine. We dream of magical places and of ourselves as knights in shining armor and beautiful princesses. We dream of lands where everything is good and lovely. But as we live out our lives here on earth, oftentimes our ability to “dream” dies as we face what is sometimes harsh reality and the disappointments of everyday life. We are slapped on the hands by those who say it is foolish to dream.
Yet I believe we were created to dream. Part of the image of God within us all is the ability to imagine…the desire for things to be “dreamy” comes from God Himself. He is the one who has made us with “forever” in our hearts. He created us as spiritual beings who live in a body and have a soul. Spiritual beings who belong ultimately in another world. A dreamland.
Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..
Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin
Revisiting Christmas
Posted by: | Comments
Mary, just a young girl, must have been afraid.
Miles from home
Away from mom and dad
Birthing a child
In front a man she had not been intimate with yet
Joseph, himself a young man,
In all likelihood his first time to help birth a child
Wondering how to take care of this woman and this child
The responsibility of raising the child of God
What was it like to hold this baby?
Scary, overwhelming, confusing
The emotions of being chosen as a part of this purpose of God-
Not all pleasant emotions
Beginning life together in a backwards sort of way
Childbirth first
Relationships later
Angels pronouncing “Peace on Earth”
But where was that peace?
It was not to be found yet
There was not complete peace in that stable
If we are real about what was happening…
Two young people probably more terrified than peaceful
Wondering if God was going to use them to birth His child
Couldn’t He have given them a room in the inn?
Being introduced to God
In skin
After 400 years of prophetic silence
Perhaps He had seemed a distant God before
Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..
Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin
