I had anticipated a night filled with activities and fun times to be had by each and every member of our family. I had done all the leg work ahead of time and even purchased ingredients to make a nice dinner. Yet, despite how hard I had worked to prepare for the night's festivities, nothing, and I mean NOTHING, seemed to be going according to the plan. Or was it?
Our kids did not seem interested in the family fun craft.
I was feeling very helpless and unable to do what I wanted to help my extended family during a recent time of need because my kids were sick. I was home "stewing" over what I wanted to do, but couldn't do.
I was tired.
There were a few members of our family that were sick which is always exhausting as a parent.
No one was feeling themselves.
I made dinner that night but it wasn't the dinner that I had originally planned. About this time of the night, I began to feel as though someone else had taken taken over my life and was orchestrating events outside of my control. I was feeling angry and frustrated that I couldn't seem to get anything to go my way and I was pouting.
While I was cleaning up the dinner dishes, I turned up the music, and tried to release some of the feelings that were building up in my soul. My daughter came to my side holding a craft in her hand. I took one look and realized that it was not the craft that I had wanted to make the family activity of the evening. I took a deep breath and gave in to her wishes, for I knew it was more important to spend time together and it didn't matter after all what we did, as long as we had fun. The boys didn't seem interested anyway, which would have only led to even more frustration on my part. So I gave in, and we began to make this craft together at our kitchen table.
It was a long and tedious job. My daughter wanted to make a Crayola Color Wonder Mosaic of Tinkerbell. We worked for quite some time, working with one color at a time, trying to get just enough of each color dough into each of the small crevices. (On a side note, play-doh of any kind is a great stress reliever. Man, you can squish the heck out of it, pound it, throw it, smash it, etc.) There was lots of teamwork involved and as we worked side by side, I started to hear a different message begin to present itself to me.
You see, the mosaic looked like my life. Here are some of the thoughts that began to race through my mind:
Life seems hard "to do" these days.
The "colors" of my life are all over the place!
The "colors" are overlapping into places that I didn't want them to go.
I can't seem to get the "colors" to fill some of the spaces in my life that I want them to, even when I try really hard.
My life seems disorganized.
My life seems ugly, really ugly.
My life seems unrecognizable to me now...
I feel like I need all of the instructions to my new life, but I can't have them, not all at once anyway.
I continued to work with my daughter, side by side, squishing the clay into each and every crevice, listening to worship music the whole time. She was singing and I was fighting back the tears and dealing with the now painful lump in my throat. Finally, after about an hour's work, we had finally finished. My daughter turned over the frame to reveal an absolutely beautiful Mosaic of Tinkerbell. The smile on her face was priceless. The message that reached my heart on this night was also life changing, and beautiful in it's own way as well.
As I gazed at the Mosaic that my daughter and I created, new thoughts immediately filled my soul and then tears of a different kind softly fell onto my already wet cheeks. And my did they ever flow...
God said, "I am YOUR partner, working right beside you. I am here, even when you cannot see me. I am supporting you, pruning you, preparing you, teaching you, and reinventing you." Shared from Strength for the Climb by Kristen Armstrong Matthew 28:20 (New Living Translation)
20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
"I am helping you get the "colors" just right, the way I want them to be. Trust me, I know best. The colors are not overlapping, and they may seem to be all wrong, but indeed they are ALL right, each and every one!" Psalm 32:8 (New International Version)
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you and watch over you.
"This work that WE are doing together, it takes time and a lot of patience. It may be difficult, but I promise you, it WILL be worth it in the end."
Psalm 27:14 (New International Version)
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
This picture that you are trying so hard to create, isn't really your picture after all. You are MINE, I have ransomed you and called you by name, so this is MY picture. Stop trying to control your life all by yourself,let Me show you the way..."
James 4:10 (New International Version)
10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
"You do not recognize your life now because your life IS different now. You are journeying through a new phase of your earthly life, but I am with you, always, do not be afraid." Genesis 28:15 (New International Version)
15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
"You don't need any instructions, just have faith,hope, and trust in ME. " John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
"Your life is not ugly. Your ways are not like my ways. Your thoughts are not like my thoughts, now have a little taste of what the life that we are working on together looks like from my perspective..."
Proverbs 3:5-6 (New International Version)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
"Your life, the life that I have given to you, IS beautiful! In fact, you are right on track with what I have planned for you."
Jeremiah 29:11 (New International Version)
11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
I, for one, am taking the risk of investing in God's kingdom. As my pastor reminds us, God will never send us to a place where He hasn't been before. He goes before us, leading and preparing the way. He knows when the road is rocky and also when the weather is good. He promises us that He will see us through, no matter the circumstances. He only asks us to step out in our faith... and do what He has called us to do. (shared from my pastor's message)
With a Grateful Heart,
No comments:
Post a Comment