We had a pretty good small group meeting Tuesday night at our apartment. Our current series at church is about discovering God’s dream for our lives, etc, and that has led to a resurgence of some frustrations for several of us. By “us”, I mean those of us who aren’t quite sure what the heck we’re supposed to do as of this moment. We thought we knew there for a while, but something has happened and we are beginning to have some second (third, fourth) thoughts on the matter. I’ll use myself as an example: I’ve always wanted to be a worship leader, and right now I am. The trouble is that I am unable to do that and provide for my marriage as well. So I decided to find other work in order to “provide” while I continue to do what I love and while Katy pursues her education. Up until this point, this plan has hardly worked. First of all, my day job has yet to “provide” enough and secondly, I have completely lost focus in my worship leadership pursuit. So, like many of my friends, I am left feeling like I am loosing time, wondering if I am really doing what is best. Like I said, this was a good conversation on Tuesday, so I’ll get to the good part. I think we all agreed on a few things. First, God does not want us to be worried about this stuff–he wants us to enjoy what we are doing and do what we enjoy. Second, the Bible does not ever ask us to seek out our “lifepath”, but simply to be obedient where we are. Also, there is no “point of no return” with God. What I mean by this, is that there is not one specific path laid before us (from our perspective) and we are not constantly in danger of detouring ourselves off of that path. This leads me to a point that a mentor encouraged me with a few years ago. He said “God doesn’t give destinations—He gives directions.” Now this is all good and fine, except when we feel like we don’t even have a direction to follow. What then? Well, I’m not totally sure, but my gut tells me that we should just acknowledge the possibility that we aren’t supposed to go anywhere yet and we should focus on being excellent in what we are doing now. It’s fine to keep your eyes open for something but I don’t think we should get obsessed about it. So as for me, I am still desperately looking for a job that provides for Katy and I. I am also trying to focus on getting better at what I do at church because God wants me there right now.
Now I realize that these are not the infallible answers to our questions (heck, I know these things and I am still feeling a little lost) but I think it is safe to say that we worry too much. Way too much. God is not going to leave us behind and just feel sorry that we missed out on His plan. He has a plan and we are right on track with it, so lets stop thinking about it.
Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?…..But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:26-27,33-34
