Life just keeps on rolling. There are many things I would like to make better. There are many things out of my control. There are many things I mess up all by myself. Every day there are things...good, bad, confusing...there are unanswerable questions and unending decisions...rewards reaped and consequences revealed. I never have to look far to see someone with a struggle that is much larger than mine and yet my stuff still seems big...everyday. Its just life...like waves coming ashore...unending...relentless. But living life is not about the waves...its about how you ride them.
I was reading the book of Job this morning. Job is a character in the Old Testament of the Bible who, through a series of disasters, lost everything he had, including all his children. I am always intrigued with how Job viewed God through all his troubles. I came up with this...Its not about how messy God allows my life to be...its about how I view God from the mess. Job continued to see God as faithful. He questioned what was going on...he wanted the suffering to stop...but his view of God "from the mess"...never changed.
Someone said there is no "answer" for life. There is just living life. And living life is hard. And if you are alive you are involved. We are all seeking answers...steps...principles...formulas...ways to make life better...ways to experience peace in the middle of this sometimes relentless storm. As its winds rip across our souls we seek to find shelter...we look hopefully for the green pastures that will satisfy our longings...we search diligently for the still waters that provide a place of rest for our struggling hearts and minds.
Jesus says simply "Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you". He keeps reminding me that no matter what happens...no matter my own inconsistencies...no matter the actions of others....just seek Him. It is amazing to me how interested He is in the smallest details of my life and yet he lets so many things go seemingly unattended. At these moments,when life is making no sense, when the answers I am getting are vague at best, like Job, I lean on what I do know.."lean not on your own understanding but in everything trust God" and "His grace is sufficient".
Sometimes day after day goes by and I see no improvement. It seems that God is not even involved . However, when I look back on the different segments of my life it's easy to see that how I viewed God in these tough moments....how I viewed Him in the mess, ultimately defines my relationship with Him.
Lou Holtz, the famous Notre Dame football coach, talks about "playing the field" you are given. Lets say your team has the ball and they drive all the way down the field to the one yard line just as time for the game expires. Had they been able to get one more yard they would have scored and won the game. Lou says you can wish your entire life that the field had been 99 yards instead of 100, but at the end of each day it will still be 100 yards long. We don't play football on a 99 yard field. If you want to play football in America...the field will be 100 yards long. Lou says you have to learn to play the game on the field you are given. Its the same in life. We were each given a field. Each has different obstacles and each of us has to learn how to negotiate the field we were given. We can wish all day that we had someone else's field or that ours was longer or shorter or wider or what ever. At the end of the day you will still have your field. Its not a matter of what your obstacles are or how the dimensions of your field have been set. It matters how you play your field and it is 100 yards...not 99.
Besides games are not really lost on the one yard line. That's just where you were when time ran out. That one yard could have been made on eight or ten other plays where someone could perhaps have given just a little more effort. Its all the plays and all the yards. They all count. You never know when you give up or slow down or don't do your best how that is going to show up when you are down on the one yard line and need one more play to win. It is very possible that the play you ran back on your own ten yard line turns out to be the run that would decide whether you win or lose the game.
So who God is to me is not determined by whatever crisis I happen to be in today. The crises actually reveals what I have been doing up until this time. And its how I see Him in the crises...in the mess... that determines my ultimate relationship with Him.
I was reading the book of Job this morning. Job is a character in the Old Testament of the Bible who, through a series of disasters, lost everything he had, including all his children. I am always intrigued with how Job viewed God through all his troubles. I came up with this...Its not about how messy God allows my life to be...its about how I view God from the mess. Job continued to see God as faithful. He questioned what was going on...he wanted the suffering to stop...but his view of God "from the mess"...never changed.
Someone said there is no "answer" for life. There is just living life. And living life is hard. And if you are alive you are involved. We are all seeking answers...steps...principles...formulas...ways to make life better...ways to experience peace in the middle of this sometimes relentless storm. As its winds rip across our souls we seek to find shelter...we look hopefully for the green pastures that will satisfy our longings...we search diligently for the still waters that provide a place of rest for our struggling hearts and minds.
Jesus says simply "Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you". He keeps reminding me that no matter what happens...no matter my own inconsistencies...no matter the actions of others....just seek Him. It is amazing to me how interested He is in the smallest details of my life and yet he lets so many things go seemingly unattended. At these moments,when life is making no sense, when the answers I am getting are vague at best, like Job, I lean on what I do know.."lean not on your own understanding but in everything trust God" and "His grace is sufficient".
Sometimes day after day goes by and I see no improvement. It seems that God is not even involved . However, when I look back on the different segments of my life it's easy to see that how I viewed God in these tough moments....how I viewed Him in the mess, ultimately defines my relationship with Him.
Lou Holtz, the famous Notre Dame football coach, talks about "playing the field" you are given. Lets say your team has the ball and they drive all the way down the field to the one yard line just as time for the game expires. Had they been able to get one more yard they would have scored and won the game. Lou says you can wish your entire life that the field had been 99 yards instead of 100, but at the end of each day it will still be 100 yards long. We don't play football on a 99 yard field. If you want to play football in America...the field will be 100 yards long. Lou says you have to learn to play the game on the field you are given. Its the same in life. We were each given a field. Each has different obstacles and each of us has to learn how to negotiate the field we were given. We can wish all day that we had someone else's field or that ours was longer or shorter or wider or what ever. At the end of the day you will still have your field. Its not a matter of what your obstacles are or how the dimensions of your field have been set. It matters how you play your field and it is 100 yards...not 99.
Besides games are not really lost on the one yard line. That's just where you were when time ran out. That one yard could have been made on eight or ten other plays where someone could perhaps have given just a little more effort. Its all the plays and all the yards. They all count. You never know when you give up or slow down or don't do your best how that is going to show up when you are down on the one yard line and need one more play to win. It is very possible that the play you ran back on your own ten yard line turns out to be the run that would decide whether you win or lose the game.
So who God is to me is not determined by whatever crisis I happen to be in today. The crises actually reveals what I have been doing up until this time. And its how I see Him in the crises...in the mess... that determines my ultimate relationship with Him.
I am determined to hear the still small voice...to wait upon the Lord...to mount up with wings as an eagle...to be able to look back and see the footprints of God all around me and the fingerprints of God on my heart, my mind, and my soul.
Therefore, I will look for God today...in the middle of life's mess. Like Job, I will remember that above all things He is faithful and how I see Him today...right in the middle of life's stuff...is important. Its shaping my relationship with Him for the days to come and He is using today's mess to shape me...its important how I view Him...right now.
1 comment:
I knew you would enjoy this. doesn't it feel good to get all that stuff out in print? Keep it up, I like it.
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