Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Back to the Future (or Present, that is...)

For those of you who don't know, I am going to spend 2 months living in Romania this summer. I am so excited, but I must admit my brain has already arrived in Targu Mures, Transylvania. Instead of focusing on the now, I am caught daydreaming about the possibilities all the time. It's not that I am worried about the summer, I am just longing to be there.
Some of my favorite verses that God keeps teaching me about are in James 4. Verse 13 begins...Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."
I struggle with this so much. I constantly want to boast in what I think the Lord's plan must be. I have made that mistake a few times before, boasting about future plans. So many plans have been God's plans, but then I tweak them and add my own details as I daydream of how I think He can use me doing this or that. Is it evil? That seems harsh, but God has been pointing out a few sins in my life that have come as a result:
1. I don't trust Him enough to plan details. I hate that this is true. I feel I trust Him, but I also seem to love my ability to create daydreams. How sad is it that I would rather rely on my limited creativity for my life plans, than to rely on the unique designer mountains, sunsets, and all things beautiful and author of stories I could not even dream of writing...the plan of salvation as seen in prophecy and allegorically in the Old Testament, carried out in the New Testament and still seen today for just one small example :) My writing talent does not compare- I have a feeling He will write in much more amazing details.
2. Daydreaming about the future means I am not content with now. I am in no way unhappy. I just find that my imagination is much more exciting than His current work in my life. What am I missing out on? Perhaps I am bored with the now because I am not being obedient to the details and callings He wants to put in my life today.
I don't know that I can stop daydreaming altogether anytime soon...I think its part of being a girl. But I do know that I no longer want to miss out on the present. It's time to move my brain back to Fort Worth, TX until June rolls around and it's truly time to arrive in Romania mentally AND physically.

1 comment:

mgensla said...

It is a stress reliever to dream, daydream or imagine something other than the here and now. Just tonight, I wished I were at the Grand Canyan, overlooking the canyan to Colorado. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Amtrak will take me there.