Regardless of what faith you follow, if any, you’ve probably heard this phrase. We can probably all agree on some level that God has a plan for us all. This isn’t meant to convert non-believers, but if this is your belief then obviously that’s a blessing. But it’s a blessing often twisted into the worst type of curse of all—an excuse.
An excuse that lets us feel a little better about not reaching our goals, coming up short, or not rising to the challenge of grabbing that brass ring. Think of God as the captain of a boat (your life), and he is guiding you through many rivers, lakes, and oceans for the duration of your time on earth. He wants you to do well, and have a happy and fulfilling life.
So, on this journey we call life, he pairs you with entities such as your parents, teachers, mentors, friends and situations to help guide you to your blessing.
When we see that blessing in reach that’s supposed to take your life to the next level and it doesn’t happen, a common copout is that non-confronting, easy ideal that if it didn’t happen, it wasn’t meant to be. … It wasn’t in the cards. … It was not in the “Lord’s plan” for me to have it.
Now I believe that God has a contingency plan, in the sense that if one door closes, He will always open another door for us. To keep up with the Captain analogy, He always has an alternate course to take us to our destiny if the first route doesn’t work out.
But at what moment after these failed attempts to reach these goals in life do we practice self-assessment? When do we ask the tough questions?
“How bad did I really want it?”
“Did I fully prepare for the dredge work?”
“Did I spend the countless hours needed to perfect my craft?”
Instead, it’s very easy to say:
“Maybe next time.” … or, “I’ll just pray about it.”
The Father likes communication, BUT … Perhaps we should all take some responsibility for coming up short.
Practice makes perfect. Without true preparation a man is not able to perform at the best of his abilities, and his short comings will lead him to nothing but pain. The gratification of knowing that you put a hard day’s work into something you believe in is a blessing in itself. You can’t truly know who you are until you push yourself to the limits.
3 comments:
... and as I like to say "God moves, he's just waiting for us to catch up". Most of us start asking the tough questions when we find ourselves stuck in the same situations over and over again or when we see everyone around us being blessed while things around us seem to be falling apart.
I believe God in a sense "forces our hand". Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God has a plan to prosper us, not harm us, give us hope and a future, but before all of that I believe we must be willing to sow with our efforts in everything we put our hands, hearts and minds to. As a loving father, God will not reward us until he feels we are ready. It is our efforts not lame excuses that demonstrates our readiness to receive the many blessings God has for us and motivates God to move.
Judah - This is a great point. It's something that bothered me in one of the church's I used to go to. Everyone was waiting for something good to fall into their lap or waiting for a sign from God to tell them what to do. Oddly enough, they never seemed to get anywhere in their lives!
Yeah...the pie in the sky idea is used a great deal. I believe the lord gives us the tools or the ability to obtain tools to do well in life. We just have to follow through.
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