As I sat there in the kiddie pool I observed this little girl, probably about 7-8 years old and she wanted the water to dump on her head. She would look and study and run around to each water bucket in hopes that she would get there at just the right time for the water to dump on her. She sometimes judged it correctly, but more times than not she was constantly running around in a circle around this water feature with no success. She would stand and wait under a bucket she thought would soon turn over, once she felt she had waited long enough she would run across to another bucket she thought would give results sooner only to have the bucket she had waited under for so long to dump out moments after she left.
God showed me something on this Summer afternoon, this is exactly what many of us do, me included when we look to God to meet our needs. We pray and plan and come up with a perfect schedule for how we think things should look. We wait, sometimes not so patiently, but many times we just give up and take matters into our own hands and look for an easy way out and turn to any source that looks like it will give us better, quicker results. What we sometimes miss is the fact that God has so much more in store for us than we ever knew, and we miss out on those blessings simply because we become impatient.
In my own walk I think that I have to remind myself that just because things don't work out like I had planned doesn't mean that the opportunities that are given to me are bad. I have to let go of what I think things should look like and be open to what God may be wanting to show me through what He is allowing in my life rather than focusing on what I don't have. On Monday I will be starting a new job, a job that i've been waiting on for a long time. I am excited about working with a ministry that I truly believe in, although the details of this job are somewhat different from what I had envisioned. Instead of a full-time permanent position I am working part-time on a 3 month contract. I'll be living in between two cities and probably paying more money in filling up my gas tank than I will be spending on groceries. I don't understand why this job has happened this way but through past experiences I've learned patience. God has provided for me, He has provided a place to rest my head in both cities, for the nights that I will be in each. He has provided me a reliable car so that I am able to make the commute necessary. He has provided a salary that will allow me to put gas in the tank and food on the table. Because God has provided, I know that He has a plan. A plan that is much larger than me and a plan much greater than the plan that I originally laid out for myself. A plan that I'm willing to rest in, even though the water in my bucket may be coming a little slower than I anticipated.
