“What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces.” – Luke 11:43
Let me be honest. Sometimes I truly miss the “good old days”. I miss the prestige, I miss the money, I miss ability to take time off whenever it suited me. I miss the people that I came to know and love. I miss the “trappings” of the life I used to enjoy. I miss it and I don’t want to miss it. I want to appreciate it for what it was without longing for it!
God used Luke 11:43 to remind me that all those things were a danger to me. They had the potential to make me prideful and lazy, and I believe I took them all for granted. They were from Him for a purpose and a time, but that purpose and that time are past.
He also gave me the antidote to missing the old: being thankful for the new.
I was crying at my desk this morning as I went through the list of things I have to be thankful for. The list is incredibly long! I am known and loved by the Creator! He knows me intimately and loves me just as much. My wife, my kids, our friends, our health, our “stuff”…it is too much to list! I have the greatest, most challenging job I could ever imaging having, and it is truly one I never would have asked for.
I don’t know what it is that you long for. I don’t know the picture you may have in your mind of the life you wish God would give you. I don’t know the plans He has for you, but I do know they are plans for good! I would encourage you to do two things:
- Take the time to tell God everything you can think of that you are thankful for.
- Take the time to say “thank you” to someone God has placed in your life.
2 comments
Diana says:
February 7, 2009 at 2:41 pm (UTC -5 )
Thanks Tom. I think we all struggle with this. Sometimes we don’t even realize what God has done for us. That he knows not only our daily needs but our future needs too. His timing is in our overall best interest.
I have recently become aware of this through a job change. After months of testing and interviews I was notified that I got the job on Dec. 31. But what is amazing is when I was organizing my retirement information, I discovered that according to the company’s guidelines I was fully vested in the plan on Dec. 29.
If God had provided for my need of better employment when the need had arose my retirement would only had been at 90%. But, he knows my future needs and delayed my current need so that a future need already has been met.
I thank God he pays attention to the small details as well as the large ones.
John M. says:
February 7, 2009 at 8:11 am (UTC -5 )
Thank you Tom for the reminder. It is so easy to go through the day and take everything for granted. Doing this will get you into trouble every time. I am thankful for a beautiful wife and girls that love me unconditionally. I am also thankful for the great gruop of leaders I have at Grace Point. You never fail to challenge me to continue pressing toward the prize. Thank you for all you do!