“Who dares despise the day of small things…” Zechariah 4:10
Water boiling for iced tea, check. Laundry drying, check. Pictures downloading, check. Photo book organizing, check. Lesson plans for school, mailing project, service project, spread out on floor… Tubs to be unloaded, waiting in hall. Vacuum and duster, still sitting in my room.
Chaos or Progress?
“But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.” 1 Corinthians 14:40
Most of my life I have been a list maker. I make a list; check things off when complete and make a new list. My mind is usually full of ideas and it helps me to make order out of it and be more present if I can get my ideas and “to-do’s” down on paper. AND, it helps me to actually get things done or remember to do them. I have found writing down my goals, ideas, and desires makes them come to life; it gives them wings to begin flying!
“Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.” Psalm 37: 4-6
As I sat amidst several started projects and tasks in a small window of time I had alone this week, if I looked around it appeared like chaos.
But God…He reminded me of a simple truth:
“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” Proverbs 16:9
So while at the end of my time I hadn’t checked most of my list off, I had made progress in many areas. I took steps forward. While one day I may get nothing “finished,” Another day, I may get dozens of things “finished.”
Which made me think about things not on a written list, but in our hearts. A prayer lifted, but no answer seen. A desire requested, but not here yet. Someone missing in our life that we hope to see, but they are not at our door. A dream we hope to fulfill, but a world away. A problem we want resolved, but it is still here. I think when we pray, hope, cry, wonder, God adds all of these things on to His “list” for us and some items are checked off right away. Others take time and several steps to accomplish. Each day, we make progress with Him to get closer to Him and before you know it, we are working more in synch with the one who answers all prayers (maybe just not in the way we expect).
I watched a really beautiful movie with my sons about a young boy who kept making a list of things He wanted to accomplish. He and his brother got an opportunity to get their deceased dad back for one day. He had died while they were young. The list-making brother began to make a list of all the things he would want to ask or accomplish when he got his dad back, but as life would have it, the opportunity was taken from him. Obstacles got in the way and as his dream faded before him, his mind took him through the list and he drew a line through each one marking them as impossible to happen. Suddenly, images came into his head reminding him how each item had been checked off throughout his life, but not by his dad, by his big brother. It was a beautiful reminder, that often we have our prayers answered in unexpected ways, we just need to open our mind to receive them.
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, He hears us.” 1 John 5:14
So how do we know if our “list” is in His will? Ask Him and then wait…
He may encourage you, shift you, or build your endurance, but He will answer, and you will transform in the process of your progress…
In progress with you, Julie
Father, Today I Surrender:
My Progress
Show me the next step I should take.