Waiting for a Blessing That Makes Sense?

I’m thinking about the lame man who hung out by the pool of healing waters for nearly 40 years until Jesus came along.  Did he not want to be well?  I’ve often thought perhaps he enjoyed the pity he must have received.  I don’t think that way anymore.  First of all, after all that time lying around by the pool, likely nobody noticed him there anymore.  That’s not all though.

It seems to me that inching toward the pool, which might well have worked for him, probably didn’t make sense.  We do seem to crave “sensible” things in life and I think we expect blessings to fit that same pattern, so when the Lord sends us his angels and other messengers and when He nudges us, speaks to our hearts and the like, we can perhaps think that what we’re hearing can’t possibly be right.  “It makes no sense.”  Possibly not.  Don’t let that stop you, though.

Much of my life in the last few years hasn’t made any sense and much of it still doesn’t, but at the same time I have to say I feel more blessed than I ever have.  I have come to know that grace is being poured over and through me always – if I quit over thinking and let my heart be broken into bits so that He can fill it and make it His own. 

Most of the things I was initially shocked at but tried anyway turned out to be AMAZING.  Yes, sometimes I wanted a quick fix, an instant miracle, a certain shiny new toy.  If I got a slight and incomplete repair, toy that wasn’t on my list, or an opportunity that seemed REALLY meant for someone else, and if I accepted these gifts anyway, I found He was perfect and through Him I was enabled.  I also learned more about my heart.

You see, He knows my heart better than I do.  Know what else?  He can make it grow, make it change, make me grow and make me change.  You can’t do that.  I can’t do that.  He can.  I’ve been that man by the side of the pool.  Maybe you have too.  When a toy comes your way that’s not on your list . . . when a blessing comes your way that doesn’t make sense . . . try it.  Take it. 

The whole concept of “making sense” is so overrated.  I’m no longer willing to settle for it.  The Lord my God is so much bigger than I ever allowed Him to be.  His blessings are amazing!   They turn up in places and on faces that you may never have thought to look.  Try it!  Say yes!  What have you got to lose?  Not sure about you, but my plan wasn’t really working as well as I’d expected, so I took a chance on Him.  I’m not turning back!  

 

 

 

Yawning . . . Bleeding . . . Waiting

Interesting how we find ourselves reacting to the unexpected and how often a startling occurence can make us temporarily senseless.  I say this because last night was one of those nights.  I was lazily watching television and sipping ice water, laptop and cell phone nearby since even tired and blurry, I need to have my finger on the “pulse” of cyberspace.  Lol  Sadly, it is during those times that my ability to type and worse yet my ability to proofread my efforts suffers greatly.  Oh, dear.  “Oh, bother” as Pooh would say.   So, when the phone rang I jumped.  Literally.  A dear friend called to say he’d injured himself and thought a trip to the emergency room was called for.  As I drove down familiar streets I realized that my tax rate is lower here than where I used to live because they DO NOT HAVE NEARLY ENOUGH STREET LIGHTS.  Not only that, but THEY RARELY CONSTRUCT ROADS WITH SIDEWALKS, and worse yet THEY ALL HAVE CURVES AND TWISTS.  Okay, the curves are meant to slow us down as we drive through the neighborhoods, but lights would be helpful, particularly since our pretty neighborhood doesn’t have sidewalks . . . I don’t drive at night too often.  The economy, both the nation’s and my own, requires close watching of expenditures so being home at night is recommended over being a party girl about town.  I thought of all this as I drove down streets which just hours before seemed beautiful, bright, and beckoning.  All this came rushing to my mind as the friend inches away from me said “oh, crap” and realized he was REALLY bleeding at that moment.  We got to  the ER.  We waited a long time, then he was taken to be stitched and I waited and waited and watched.  Interesting how folks handle waiting in ER waiting rooms.  One or two go off alone and hold tattered newspapers without reading them and jump every time they hear footsteps.  Most others sit close to the strangers around them, make occasional small talk, giggle over nothing in particular, and take some relief in the presence of other humans playing the same waiting game.  There are also a few who’ve made this late night trip and played this waiting game so often that they just get comfortable in plastic chairs, sip coffee brewed hours ago from foam cups, and have their own books and such from home to read knowing the “routine” entirely too well.  “I’ll be fine” my friend said, with a bandage much larger than the cut that was just stitched.  Smiling and tired, his pain shot hadn’t worn off yet and I hoped he’d be asleep before it did.  Minutes later he was home and so was I.  This morning those same streets are well-lit with the late summer sunshine and the dark skies are now an amazing shade of blue.  I’m sipping coffee once again but it’s freshly brewed.  My “good sense” or what passes for it has been restored.   The wound will heal.  Life is good. 

What IS Sensible, Anyway???

I come from a long line of sensible people.  Church going folks.  I always assumed the two concepts go hand-in-hand.  You know what?  I can’t say I’ve ever found the word sensible in the Bible.  Okay, so I decided I needed to look that up and since cyberspace provides worlds of opportunity I can tell you that one quick click revealed that the word appears just twice in the entire Bible.  Twice!  So, since my “sensible” approach to life is no longer working and since it seems the Lord has crazy and amazing (though not entirely defined yet) plans for me, I’m thinking that with just two uses of the word “sensible” that’s not much of an endorsement for MY PLAN.  Well, as it happens my sensible approach is no longer working anyway . . . so it’s time to totally trust in the Lord. 

 Trust.  I don’t like that word.  When people say “trust me” it usually means “I know you’re not going to like this, but . . . “  You know, it’s not unlike those times someone has tried to get me to taste something I thought looked “funny” and they wouldn’t tell me what it was, but said it “tastes like chicken.”  Well, the only thing I care to consume that tastes like chicken is chicken.  Seriously.  So, back to trusting.  Not a fan of trusting humans.  Experience hasn’t changed my thoughts on that, but trusting in the Lord . . . hmmm.  So, back to my Bible research.  As it happens, my results for “trust” were quite a bit different compared to my research on “sensible.”  That word appears 164 times.  Okay, that’s an improvement of about 98.5 percent! 

 So, I’m going with trust.  I’m listening to the Lord.  Seems I’m not the only one in favor of throwing out sensible in favor of something better.  Here are a few related opinions on a different approach to life. 

 “Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of
choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing
to be achieved.”
     —  Jeremy Kitson

 “In each of us are places where we have never gone. Only
by pressing the limits do you ever find them.”
     —  Dr. Joyce Brothers

 “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by
the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover.”
     —  Mark Twain

But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”

   –Psalm 31:14