Follow the sound of My voice...
Do you ever feel like everyone's figured out what you should do with your life, before you even have? Well, probably not so much. This is one of those things that, within my circle of friends, I feel a little alone in. Not everybody has family like mine, and nobody but me is me (which is to say, your personality is not my personality; what you would do is not necessarily what I would do).
Lately I've been getting a lot of pressure to figure out the rest of my life, or plan out a sort of 5 year plan, if you will. I'm definitely being pushed to plan out my career and figure out where I want to start it, and truth be told, there are a lot of practical reasons why I should just go with The Plan and take the reliable path that I have almost every assurance will work. And on top of that, I know that all these people are only offering these suggestions because they love me dearly and they want what's best for me. What's wrong with that, afterall? And what makes me hesitant to stray from The Plan?
Is it just that I stubbornly want to forge my own path, simply for the sake of forging my own path? Is it that I truly feel God calling me to something else? Is it that I have a dream about what my future looks like, and I'm clinging to this rosy fantasy? To be honest, I think this is definitely a factor...but I wonder if there's something more. I want to know exactly what God's got planned for me, so I know where to take my next step - but that's not really faith, now is it? So where do I go next?
It feels like we get more paranoid when we've got something that's precious to us. If you're holding $100 tightly in your fist while sitting in a car, window open, don't you feel like the wind's more likely to blow it away than if you had, say, an old receipt in your hand? When you've just visited the ATM and you've got $200 in your wallet, don't you feel more worried that someone will jump out and mug you than you did 5 minutes ago? Sort of feels like they know you've got something good, and they're just waiting to get you. When you've got someone in your life who's become near and dear to you, a treasure, don't you feel more wary that someone else will capture their affections, that you'll lose them, even if rationally you know that they are just as committed to you as you are to them? It's so draining, so silly, to cling so tightly. What happens will happen. Some things are worth fighting for, but others are simply out of our control. All we can do is lay them at the feet of Christ and surrender our entire beings - all our ambitions, hopes and dreams. Everything. Entrust it all to the Almighty, the Best Friend you will ever have, the One who loves you more than life itself. You really can't go wrong, ya know? And you'll feel so, so much better...The journey gets hard when you can't relax, and you've got all this baggage to lug around...
Easier said than done, I know, but it's something I need to learn to do myself. So I tell myself, Listen for His voice - He'll lead you home. There's nothing to fear...Everything in His time.
Now if only I could take my own advice...
Lately I've been getting a lot of pressure to figure out the rest of my life, or plan out a sort of 5 year plan, if you will. I'm definitely being pushed to plan out my career and figure out where I want to start it, and truth be told, there are a lot of practical reasons why I should just go with The Plan and take the reliable path that I have almost every assurance will work. And on top of that, I know that all these people are only offering these suggestions because they love me dearly and they want what's best for me. What's wrong with that, afterall? And what makes me hesitant to stray from The Plan?
Is it just that I stubbornly want to forge my own path, simply for the sake of forging my own path? Is it that I truly feel God calling me to something else? Is it that I have a dream about what my future looks like, and I'm clinging to this rosy fantasy? To be honest, I think this is definitely a factor...but I wonder if there's something more. I want to know exactly what God's got planned for me, so I know where to take my next step - but that's not really faith, now is it? So where do I go next?
It feels like we get more paranoid when we've got something that's precious to us. If you're holding $100 tightly in your fist while sitting in a car, window open, don't you feel like the wind's more likely to blow it away than if you had, say, an old receipt in your hand? When you've just visited the ATM and you've got $200 in your wallet, don't you feel more worried that someone will jump out and mug you than you did 5 minutes ago? Sort of feels like they know you've got something good, and they're just waiting to get you. When you've got someone in your life who's become near and dear to you, a treasure, don't you feel more wary that someone else will capture their affections, that you'll lose them, even if rationally you know that they are just as committed to you as you are to them? It's so draining, so silly, to cling so tightly. What happens will happen. Some things are worth fighting for, but others are simply out of our control. All we can do is lay them at the feet of Christ and surrender our entire beings - all our ambitions, hopes and dreams. Everything. Entrust it all to the Almighty, the Best Friend you will ever have, the One who loves you more than life itself. You really can't go wrong, ya know? And you'll feel so, so much better...The journey gets hard when you can't relax, and you've got all this baggage to lug around...
Easier said than done, I know, but it's something I need to learn to do myself. So I tell myself, Listen for His voice - He'll lead you home. There's nothing to fear...Everything in His time.
Now if only I could take my own advice...