1. I was cleaning up my home computer station yesterday, when I ran across a hastily scribbled quote on a tithing envelope:
"The sign of God is that you will be led where you did not plan to go."
It occurred to me that my present circumstance must definitely be the working of the Almighty, because I certainly did not plan to be in the straits that I'm in. Now, whether I had a hand in arriving here is a separate inquiry, but this must indeed be something that is part of the divine plan. Hooray?
2. The Upper Room devotional for 08 July 2007 is not directly on point, but with the foregoing quote in my mind, the following occurred to me after reading it:
"God does not tell stories of 'Once upon a time they lived happily ever after'. That's not His narrative style. Instead, when problems arise, persevere! Fight on! Your struggle may be an integral part of a larger narrative."
Things happen. But like the devotional says, we don't have to be perfect for the Almighty to work in and through our lives. What threatens to overwhelm you today may be the experience that guides you to victory in the future.
I thought about my quote---hastily scribbled on a notepad---over the course of the day, and I was reminded of the trials of the great heroes and heroines of the Bible. David didn't exactly walk into the local palace, proclaim himself king of the Israelites, and live forever with his saints to reign. Nuh uh. Elijah suffered a fair amount of anguish and trouble during the reign of Ahab & Jezebel. But what happened? He came out on top. You could ask the local prophets of Baal, had any of them survived the day. In other words, just because there's a rough patch doesn't mean that life is fast aground somewhere along Cape Hatteras.
I don't for a minute think that I'm in the line of David, Elijah, or any other of the greats of the Judeo-Christian tradition. (My luck, I'd be the wiseacre who went ahead and threw the first stone at the condemned prostitute, and would be struck dead or something.) That being said, perhaps their stories are valuable markers for me, and for anyone else who has found themselves in the doldrums of life that occasionally engulf all peoples.
So, what does one do? You fight. Keep showing up every single day and sooner or later, the bad guys---define them any way you want to---may forget to take the field and then, you win. It's a test of will, really. It costs your opposition just as much to keep showing up day after day. Like Steve Prefontaine used to tell himself, "The other guy's hurting just as bad as you are, or worse."
Posted by Country Pundit at July 10, 2007 01:51 AM