I know I said I’d be writing on stuff that happened last November, but there are just a couple of thoughts here and there that I want to bring out now before I forget all about them.
I was reminded of how I should probably take a little time to appreciate all that has been accomplished – not just this year, but through the years. A friend of mine who I spent time with last night took a considerable amount of time in disbelief and resultant awe; Let’s just say that he just graduated from academy a week or so ago, and it’s only now dawning on him.
I say that we should take time to appreciate our accomplishments, lest they pass us by and we deny ourselves of some health-giving glory and validation – and, of course, for us in the body of Christ, these times and realizations give us even more reason to thank and praise our Father.
But let’s also keep something in mind. I’m making the bold assumption that we will observe a little difficulty in said exercise of appreciation, and as we realized last night, it’s most likely because there are other things that are occupying our mind; draining us of time and energy to do some needed positive assessments.
In the case of my friend, the realization of his great accomplishment was easily overshadowed by frustration, by disappointment from another event that happened close to his graduation. Another lesson for us here is to make sure that we clearly delineate what deserves our celebration, and what deserves our analysis and learning. Awe can easily distract us from threats, and in this case, frustration could weigh down and smother our reasons to celebrate.
So we spent a little more time on what frustrated my friend – so much so that he didn’t necessarily join in with the rest of the community that was celebrating graduation at the time. I have to give him credit because he wasn’t so bothered about what recognition he was denied, more than how, through events beyond his control, a good number of other people would have benefitted from all his efforts.
I was reminded, then and there, about events beyond my control also had me arrive at the following commitment to myself – my Certified Voice Artist Program (CVAP) ‘AVP’, or my Aspiration, Vision, and Purpose: To give my best shot in everything I commit to or am brought to, no matter how trivial, or how high the stakes are (Aspiration), for the benefit to and impact of the greatest amount of people (Vision, or Aspiration of Aspirations), towards the greatest and maximum praise to our Father (Purpose, or Vision of Visions).
That’s what I shared to my friend – and we both came to a conclusion: That our God, our Father will ALWAYS be glorified to the maximum in the grand scale of things, no matter what.
A question I asked us was: Why even bother, then? Well, we strive to give our best (Aspiration) for the most (Vision), now more than ever – not FOR His glory, but FROM it.
We run BECAUSE of our Prize, and not FOR it. We strive and give it our all, each and every time, FROM the salvation we have in Christ, and not FOR this salvation.
All this notwithstanding, my friend was still open in saying that he was still in the process of learning the most he could from the bad experience he had – and I wasn’t about to blame him for it. He was right when he said that through all that he was feeling, and through all we stand to feel when we find ourselves in frustration, whether sudden or prolonged – that our Lord and our Father has greater things in store for us.
Too long I’ve only focused on emphasizing to myself and to others, that God WILL work all things for the good of those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose – but, well, here I’m humbly reminded that this is ALWAYS the case for us in Christ, BEFORE we realize it as much as when it eventually comes into the shores of our minds.
Our Father is ALWAYS, faithfully helping us, whether we realize it or not. What a wonderful realization.
Of course, will all this in mind, I’m reminded of how it all impacts our flowing with God, and thanking Him, and trusting Him. Well, it really just gives us another perspective into how Life is for us in Christ.
Before we ever came to the realization of intentionally trusting Him towards thanking Him, or vice versa, well… Before we thought of flowing, our Father was already deep at work, causing things to flow in and out of our lives as well: And, all according to His wisdom and power, according to His timing and timeline.
It’s humbling, because as babies devoid of critical thought we had no problem flowing and trusting God. It was like it was programmed in us.
Am I therefore to say that we are to be more than Christ’s saying our faith ought to be as that of a child – should we be saying we ought to be like babies? Far from it. It’s come to a point that I’m appreciating my WANTING to thank God, my WILLINGNESS to trust God, and my DESIRE to flow;
No, I’m appreciating how we’re moving from mindless dependence, to mindful trust. We’ve come to this realization, and we continue to propagate the mindset of flowing, trusting God, and thanking God – both intentionally, until it comes out naturally, and observing where it comes naturally, to know where to apply intentionality.
All of this gives even more meaning, and we derive more value from Paul’s words in the Areopagus:
24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for
“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
Acts 17:24-28
This is such a great Father we have… faithful even when we have trouble with our own faith.
Until the next post, which hopefully addresses more of our backlog from November… God bless us all, greatly and mightily.
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