Sunday, April 6, 2014

Keeping up with the Jones'

John 4:2
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
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What is at the heart of wanting what others have? Could it be that we don't have confidence that we could obtain the same if we tried? Or is a matter of not knowing ourselves well enough to create a life of our own, instead we follow the crowd. At some point we will realize that the path we are on is not fulfilling. It is not what we had in mind for our life. Maybe this is what we call a midlife crisis?

And this is what is meant in the scripture passage above. The murder is of our dreams and desires for our life. They can not be created if we are chasing after what someone else has.

How can we discover our own path?

It starts by creating quiet time, carving out space and time to get comfortable with ourselves.

Each of us has our own individual path to create. The scenery (people, places, things) along the way may give us clues in the creation process. Along with listening to our internal knowing.

We know  we are creating our path when the support and opportunities start showing up when needed. And there is a feeling of excitement and awe around it!

This type of  creating takes faith and trust in God.

This is where the end of the scripture above comes into play.

We ask for direction.

Is this the right way? Should I move forward with this decision. Are these the right people to have in my life? Is this the right opportunity for me? Will this inspire me and others?

Patience and courage are helpful tools to carry along the way. They enable us to give God time to show us HIs best answer for us.

My path is changing. What excited and kept me engaged in the current path is no longer there. This is God's gentle and loving way of saying, "hey Barbara, this has been good and now it's time to do something else.'

It can be scary to change and move to the unknown. And it can be exciting and thrilling too!
When I have fear, I know it is not from God. I think about the path I have been on and see how wonderful it has been. God has taken me on that path and He will continue to be with me on this new one.

What is it? What will it be?

I am not sure, I have ideas and I know what is exciting and engaging for me now. There is nothing solid yet. Would I like to have some certainty? Yes,  and I guess God hasn't put all the pieces into place yet for me to be given that certainty. So I wait while I try different skills and learn new ones which helps me enjoy the not knowing right now.

I can look at what others have as a way to find clues to where I am headed. And that is all. What they have is their gift from God, it is what they have created and earned on their path.

Our paths are not solo creations. We are given the opportunity to serve and share our gifts to help each other. We cross each other's path to celebrate our accomplishments not to covet them.

My cousin Tina and I are an example of this. She is an amazing writer. Her stories are engaging, interesting and thought provoking. Our  writing styles are different and they compliment.
Our paths have crossed to accomplish the pairing of our styles to share God's message to our readers. Pretty amazing!

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