Thursday, January 26, 2006

be. planted. grow. thrive.

So, I was reading My Utmost for His Highest this morning. A very good devotional by any standard and one I highly recommend. The reference this morning came from Matthew 6:30 which reads:

"If God so clothes the grass of the fields...shall He not much more clothe you?"

Oswald chambers was talkng about a number of things in reference to this text, but the thing that stuck out most to me was the following statement, "Many of us refuse to grow where we are put, consequently we take root nowhere." How revelatory of a statement was that for me? HUGE! Just this morning I was praying and thinking about the fact that I feel like I am just squandering right now, not going forward in my business and personal pursuits, but not going backwards either. I mean, I know that leaving some of the places I have left was the right thing for me to do, but now what? Where do I go from here? Am I supposed to stay in Tulsa, move to somewhere, but if so- where? So many question and yet no answer to any of them. And then the revelation of the day hit me.


Oswald (yeah, we're on a first name basis) talks about the fact that God is able to take care of the lilies of the field because of one reason and one reason alone- they are doing exactly what they were created to do and are doing it exactly where God intended for them to do it. I mean seriously, you don't see many lilies running across the street trying to get to the other side of the road because they feel like life will be better for them if they can just get to their destiny over yonder. (Yeah, I said yonder, call it a tribute to my current home) No, lilies are planted and stay there- so they grow. Part of my problem has always been that I see what I want to do, but then compare it to what other people are doing and on some level feel like I may not be measuring up. But, do you think that's fair, I don't. Who am I to say that what God is doing in, through, and for me is any less efficacious than what he is doing in the lives of my friend next door or down the street? Why don't I just learn to be planted and grow instead of trying to see the soil and believe that I know better than the gardener where I should be placed in all of it. Okay, enough horticultural references.


Basically, my point in all of this is that God can only bless me, cause me to grow, prosper me- whatever it is you want to call it- if I am willing to grow here, right here where I am. Flowers grow and birds are fed because they don't try to be something they're not. They know their calling, their purpose, and use every ounce of their being to live to the fullest potential of what they have been created to do. How much more effective could I be if I found out what I was created to do and then did it? What if I was planted, and didn't try to move myself into a position I felt to be better for me? What if I believed that as I followed God, he really would position me to be what I am supposed to be and do what I am supposed to do. What if my life was less about comparison and more about living fulfilled with who and what I am? What sort of growth could I see in my life? What if this whole honesty thing is really as good for the cleansing of the soul as I am believing that it is? Yeah, so that's my piece, be planted where you are and grow in that so God can make you thrive. Mad love to you and your hood.



D-$

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