You could complain…

It’s Friday.

Whatever semblance of patience that you had disappeared by Wednesday morning. Yet here it is Friday afternoon and you are trying to find the strength to last the rest of the day.

The same colleagues that worked your last good nerve on Monday have returned with their unsolicited encore performances today.

When you look around all you see is chaos that could be better managed if they ever listened to your suggestions. But no, some people just like disorder and confusion. Their problem, not yours.

As you stare out the front door, you see the smiles of everyone else as they happily skip to their offices or wherever they are headed. You don’t know for sure where they are going but you just know they look happy. Happier than you.

As you blankly stare at the computer screen, you drift off into deep thought…

Is there where I am supposed to be?

Is this what I am supposed to be doing?

I know God has a plan, but this can’t possibly be it…can it?

Why hasn’t God transitioned me to wherever His wants me to go?

God, my degree isn’t even this field- why am I still here?

Save me! Save me soon!

After asking yourself those seemingly harmless questions, you snap yourself out of your daze and attempt to refocus on the work ahead of you.

You are trying your hardest but still you can’t shake the thought that you are ready to leave. You are ready to leave for the day, yes, but you are also ready to leave this field and this position. You’re just tired of being sick and tired. You’ve had enough.

You decide to take a non-smoke break (because non-smokers deserve random breaks, too, right?) and call your GGG- your Good Godly Girlfriend- to chat about the day.

Just as she answers, something comes over you and you decide not to delve into the issues of the day. You could complain but 1. complaining never fixed anything and 2. you were grateful for employment, but just currently unhappy and unfulfilled.

In the time that it took for your GGG to answer, you made a choice. You decided that you didn’t want to dwell in your unhappiness but instead you wanted to focus on more positive options. You made the choice to revel in God’s goodness than your own bitterness. You made the harder choice. You made the choice that pleased God.

Reflection:

Each day really is a new beginning. When God decides to wake us up we are immediately given two choices: 1. make the best of the day or 2. dwell in your internal unhappiness. While God would love for us to choose the former, we have freewill…and the latter is so much easier! It is easy to complain about not getting the things we want or complain that our day is not going as we had envisioned it but we have to break that pattern. Not only is that a burden and a sin, it is also extremely unhealthy for our spiritual well-being. When we complain, we are essentially telling God that we are not grateful for the many blessings that He has bestowed upon us. It’s like saying “thanks for the Porsche but I wanted a Maybach instead.” Really? You think you know, better than God, what’s good for your life? It’s ok; you don’t know better than Him. I don’t know better than Him. No one knows better than Him. He is the author and the finisher of our lives- He knows what is best for us. He knows what  will cause us harm. He has a great plan in store for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11).

Today and this weekend I DARE you to trust His plan and His will. Spend some time conversing with Him and listen to what He has to say about the plans His has for you. We-yes, me, too- tend to think that we should help God with our lives. Truth is, what He has in store is always a million times better than we could ever imagine. Because He is an all-everything God (all knowing, all powerful, and all present (or Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent)), He, and He alone, is able to know how everything will happen and play out before it ever begins.

I DARE you to give the planning over to God and just enjoy the way He works. WE could complain, but there is no need when we place EVERYTHING in His very capable hands.

Be Blessed.