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Hurry Up! Not Yet!

             Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. (Psalm 119:35)

 

            Hurry up! Not yet! Yes, it’s that time. As I migrate, anxiety creeps in. I want to do what God wants me to do. But what does He want me to do? I think it’s safe to assume that He wants me to live in my house and go to the church I’ve been attending for years. I’m sure I’m supposed to return to work at the garden center. There are other ideas. But what if I’m wrong?

            One of the things that Pastor John Ortberg has repeated from Dallas Willard’s books is the idea that our goal is to become the sort of people that God can trust to let do what we want because what we want is in sync with what God wants. Today’s verse asks God to direct us because we find delight in His commands, which means that if we are delighting in what we’re doing, God has directed us there. There’s no room for anxiety.

            The problem is that anxiety is energy, and energy has to go somewhere, and do something. “Hurry up! Not yet!”  is like putting one foot on the gas and the brake and pushing with all your might. It’s also like taking a dog into a place with uncarpeted floors and listen as they try to claw its way toward whatever has caught its attention and doesn’t get anywhere because you’re holding the leash.

            But the key to these times is to avoid letting the energy turn toxic. Pray. Present your request to God, then do something useful and good. You may need to decide whether to take path A or path B, but what can you do to prepare you and yours to be able to move out? What are the tasks that need to be done that may have nothing to do with either path but need to be done? ‘

            The day I wrote this, I did three loads of laundry and made a batch of dog treats. I gardened and crafted and whimpered at God because I don’t know what I’m supposed to do starting next Thursday morning. How much better would I have felt if I’d listened to good music, read, cleaned, or did something useful? You’d think I’d have learned, but I chose to whine. Yes, I took my concerns to God, but what joy we miss because we’re too busy living in the future or in the past.

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