Have you ever tried to ride a wild horse? Once I watched as Bear Grilles, from Man v Wild, tried to tame a wild horse. His plan was lasso the horse with a piece of twine, mount him and ride off into civilization. However, the horse had other plans. After wiping the dirt and horse dung off his clothes, Bear had no choice but to continue on foot; eventually finding civilization.
I am reminded of this situation whenever I try to plan my future. More often than not I usually end up knee deep in a pile of shit realizing that I didn’t know everything after all. You would think after a while I would learn but the pattern seems to be cyclical.
This morning I turned on the television and Joel Osteen face was there. Not being much into televised religion, I began to look for the remote to no avail. So, I thought, “Why not see what she has to say?” Did you know that sometimes God uses a period and other times he uses a question mark? I was intrigued so I continued listening.
The gist went like this; sometimes no matter how much we want something or pray about it, god has put a period. Whether we understand it or not, life follows a certain path. When someone close to you is sick and you pray with all your might but in the end they pass on, they were meant to go…period. If you were planning a major life change but your life went another direction, it was mean to…period.
A problem often arises, though, in where God has put a period, we want a question mark. I think it’s a pretty human thing to want life to go your way. When you aren’t holding the map, it is only natural to be confused by any wrench in the path.
Joel Osteen says that we have to stop the questions and accept the period. There is a plan out there for every one of us and every period is a part of the plan. There are good things coming to you but you have to accept that you cannot change the past. I have learned from experience that this is true.
I was once a past dweller. I would base who I was and how I felt about myself on decisions or events from my past. People base self-worth on a lot of things; health, beauty, money, career, friendships, romantic relationships, etc. The problem is that people consider themselves a failure if things don’t go as planned in these areas. Marriages fall apart. Friendships end. Business’s fails. Money is fleeting.
When you are stuck in the past then you can’t move forward. Sometimes in our lives we have question marks, not periods. Those are times when we have to step up and take advantage of the opportunities that are presented to us and move forward. If you are dwelling on the past, it is next to impossible to move forward.
One of the most liberating feelings in life is to realize that you are no longer a past dweller. The past drags you down and the sad part is that you don’t even know it until you get to the other side. You gain a whole new level of confidence in yourself and most of those insecurities you were afraid of no longer seem so scary. If you accept yourself, and are happy with yourself how you are today, it improves every aspect of your life and makes you able to make those steps forward.
Part of the reason that we try to create our future is that we are scared or unsatisfied with the status quo. It’s usually midway through our plans that God (or whomever you believe in) likes to re-route the prospective path. Although I doubt that I will never try to plan out my future again, I know that the universe always has something bigger and better planned and it’s waiting just around the corner. Faith is something I need to work on.
~E
P.S. Also remember, God has a sense of humor when you try to think you are smarter than he is…trust me!
Check out my new blog http://churchtryouts.blogspot.com/. Don’t worry, I’m not getting all “churchie” on you. I just figured I needed a little extra help with in the faith department so every Sunday I will be trying a new church and writing about my findings. Tune in!
No comments:
Post a Comment