better

We are born in need of a different situation.  Immediately being out of the womb, we lose our warm, secure, comfortable space.  And immediately the loss of those things are replaced, but in a much different way. Though an infant is not conscious of what is taking place, we can see that the period of time in the womb was necessary for the child to prepare for birth, and is also the reason change must take place. We experience a freedom outside the womb that is not even possible inside.  The forces of life have a way of providing an opportunity for preparation, rest, growth, and then they push us out of our comfort zones into some sort of different situation, purposefully a better one.

This picture is also metaphoric of the processes in a life following Christ.  Things always seem manageable where we are.  We can handle "this," "here," and "now."  Perhaps it is not exactly what we want, or are able to do, but it will do currently. 

But there is a nagging.  Something sparks our vision, our dreams.  Its small, insignificant at first.  It comes soliciting when our minds are idle.  We try to ignore it, but it grows in spite of us clutching more tightly to our present securities and comforts.  Annoying, like a pebble that gets caught in your shoe-you take it out to throw it away, but its sparkle catches your attention.  You put it in your pocket and forget about until days, weeks, months, even years later you reach in to your pocket for something else and discover it again.  It's glistening originality beams.  Its the idea of something different; simply, change.

We may or may not perceive it for the better, but that glisten, that sparkle that caught your eye aroused a desire for something better.  But to attain it will mean upsetting all that is currently settled, secure, and comfortable.  Embarking into that something different, something better will definitely mean an indefinite period without the familiar comforts and securities that have, up to now, defined your life.  There is an element of chance, or at least it feels that way.

I believe it is the way God prods us on to that next period of growth and preparedness.  Being one  that is more reluctant to change the more years I collect, I have to be prodded.  Opportunities present themselves, usually, at inopportune moments, and we are brought to the brink.  We must decide to remain in our current situation- "better the devil you know..."  or to take the leap into the unknown- "...than the devil you don't!"  for better or worse.

I could never live through the processes of life without faith in God.  If I believed, as many do, that I came to be perchance, then what would any of it matter?  Simply caring about whether I matter or not is evidence to me that I was, indeed, knit together in my mother's womb for a purpose as the writer of Psalm 139 in the Holy Bible wrote.  As I read this passage and many like it, I understand that I have a general purpose-to glorify and enjoy God.  The specifics of that come to me as I seek to employ the general purpose.  He brings me into opportunity.  If it sparkles- if my heart is quickened by it, if there is promise of something better, I can trust the One Whose Idea I am to help me handle my success or learn from my failure.

Like being born, change will come.  It is inevitable.  Be sure that something different is on its way and there is no stopping it.  The question is will we leap to embrace it with faith in our purpose, or shrink back, even as we are pushed on through out of what is current.  I've heard it said that "life is what you make it."  It may be slow, tough going for a while.  but on the other side you may find that something different is better than you could have imagined.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."  Proverbs 3.5&6