Friday, December 19, 2008

simplicity

Every morning, I drive over the Catawba River bridge taking me into Fort Mill on I-77. I've always loved looking at the water anytime I drive over a bridge, so driving over the river every morning is a special treat.

I sometimes catch it just before the sun comes up. It still has a hazy look to it, and the bridge in the near distance isn't easily seen in this light. Regardless, I still consider it to be very pretty. Other mornings, when I leave a few minutes later, the sun is just coming up and the river has a gold and pink tint reflecting the morning sky's beautiful hues. Oh, how gorgeous! The neighboring bridge can barely be seen, and the stillness of the scene is breath-taking. But still, there are times when I drive over, and the sun has almost completely risen, and the light shining on the water is gorgeous. It's all I can do to keep my eyes on the road instead of on the water. The mirror-like reflection of the bridge adjacent to the one I'm driving on is completely picturesque. It catches my breath almost every time I see it, making my rushed morning of leaving way too late for comfort seem an okay circumstance after all.

It's the simple things in life - like a common day drive over a bridge - that can take your breath away. It's in those moments that God whispers the all-assuring promise of His love to you again and again.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

purposes now - and also later on

During one of my rough evenings, Jeremiah 29:11 kept coming to mind. I just couldn't get away from it, so I decided to read the whole chapter to get the context of it all. Here's what I realized and hang onto now...

This is basically to the Israelites concerning their current "conditions" and what they are to be currently doing. They had been carried from Jerusalem to Babylon and were in exile there. This is what the Lord told them,

"Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." (Jeremiah 29:5-7)

Now, this is what the Israelites were to be doing at the time. They were told to stay in Babylon and to increase in number - to grow in number as well as strength. The Lord God Almighty said to increase, not decrease. So, while they are in exile in Babylon - a situation I'm sure they weren't very excited about, they were to continue to grow.

And the story continues in verses 10-14:
"This is what the Lord says: 'When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill My gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to propser you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the Lord."

After the Israelites were "finished" completing their purpose in Babylon (which God said they would be doing for 70 years), God said He would then fulfill His promises to them - to take them out of that place and bring them back to Jerusalem. It is not until after He says all of this - their purpose now, the time they would need to wait, etc. - that God says the infamous verse that probably all Christians have recited to a friend facing struggles at one time or another - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

What does this mean for me? God has me where I am for a reason - for a specific purpose. God wants me to increase and grow, to become stronger in Him, and not to decrease. My current life-circumstances shouldn't dictate my current relationship with God - if anything, they should draw me closer to Him. I have 19 students under my care at school, and the love that I show them (or don't show them, for that matter), will either draw them to my love for God or turn them away. Also, my "city" is my school - the teachers I work with, parents I interact with, and administrators I teach under. I can either be an example of God's love in these people's lives, or an example of a hypocrital Christian.

It is important to not look at what cannot be seen in our lives, but to remember that God has us where we are for a reason. Once He has refined us, molded us, and made us new, He will then fulfill even more promises that He has given us - promises that ensure us a hope, a future, and a divine purpose.

What is your purpose right now? And what do you feel God preparing you for in the future?