Greetings. Now stop. Stop whatever it is that you are also doing. What you are about to witness is history. Well, its not history yet...That would imply such a lack of interesting subject matter to have been forgotten before it was understood. That's not it at all. Its GOING to be history. See the difference? Its note-worthy. Entirely different meaning between the two. I just wanted us all on the same page. This is big and important, ok?
Tonight while I was driving home from my girlfriend's house, I drove past a billboard. This is a billboard I have driven past countless times. I usually don't register its existence. I forget what the billboard actually says. Something about a company that has a new look, but the same something-or-other. I forget. The point is that on this sign there is the sentence, "New Look." For some reason, the light that lets people read the billboard at night is almost burned out. It was flickering and the only readable word was, "Look."
Weird coincidence, I know. It got me thinking. How often is that us? We get tired and burnt out. We just don't have the strength to scream out our original message. We can't stand by our convictions. Maybe its peer pressure, or our own doubts, but SOMETHING gets in the way. So we settle. We settle for having any message. No matter what that message is. Even if its, "PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!!"
To make matters all the more spooky, The song playing on my Ipod at that moment was "Galaxies" By Owl City. The very same one I posted not too long ago. A song all about viewing our tragedies and our missteps as God's gift to us.
Those are two different scenarios without plausible connection, you say? Not so.
We've all been in a low point in our walk with God. One probably just popped into your head when I said that. I thought of three instantly. Whats our first instinct? For me it was to say, "Hey everyone! Watch this. I know it looks like I've screwed up but I have this back-up plan that'll work out perfectly. You won't wanna miss this. Watch me! Watch me! Watch! Are you watching!? Watch! Look!"
Like the billboard that just can't manage to proclaim its whole message, we settle for any message at all. As long as the focus is on us. Thats all we care about. But its not what we should care about.
At what point do we finally let God do what He's waiting for us to let Him do? He wants our lives. He wants His plan for them. He wants us to want what He wants. Why? Because we should! He created us. He knows whats best. But still we fight. We seek attention. We're so sure we can figure it all out on our own, when all we were being asked to do was offer ourselves.
At certain points in my life, I've screwed up. OK, many points. There are a few noticable highlights. Maybe I'll get into them some time. But not today. Today, imagine you've totally blown it. Your life is in tatters. You feel like giving up. Its in that moment when your plans A through W have been proven to be worthless, THATS when we turn to God. We watch in amazement as God wipes away the tears and slowly but surely wisks us away to safety.
Then we spend a brief time basking in that safety. Only to trudge out on own all over again. Once again we're sure we have it figured out. But we don't. And eventually we'll learn that we didn't and get carried back. What if we skipped all that?
What if we didn't go through that constantly? Now, we are human no matter what we do. We'll never completely escape that. But if we bury ourselves and our desires so deep that we'll have a hard time finding them, then maybe we'll stay in that safe place walking hand in hand with God longer. I speak from experience when I say that the catastrophes and obstacles shrink drastically when we are.
So do yourself a favor and next time you're faced with impossible odds, run to God and stay in His arms. OR do yourself a bigger favor and run there now.
-Hiram The Nate
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