The other week while trudging to class, I opened the weather app to check the temperature; it declared temperatures far too cold for comfort. The rain froze to the hood of my coat while my feet slipped around on the sidewalk. As I walked through the frigid air, I wished for springtime.
In my mind, the fog morphed into a warm sea-breeze and the rain puddles transformed into sandcastles. With my toes in the ocean instead of rain boots, Olaf’s summer song rang in my head. Of course, the day remained in January and never jumped into June the way I hoped.
As much as I loved the thought of sitting in a beach chair instead of a college lecture, I had little choice in the matter. I did, however, own the choice to either day dream about the impossible teleportation to the Bahamas or actually pay attention to the professor.
“Wishing your life away” proves an easy thing to do when we find ourselves in situations we wish were different; trust me, I have been there. Sometimes the situation stems from something as silly as walking to class in the cold and wishing for sun, or wanting a tough semester of school to end. Other times we simply want a painful season in our lives to pass. Either way, I found that utilizing the time and place where we are right now only makes the snowy hardships melt easier.
“You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. So brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.” 1 Corinthians 7:23.
God has called us to a specific condition, a specific place. The Lord has us where we are right now for a precious purpose, even if we cannot see the reason for His placement. Through the chilly walks of wintery times, God knows where we are. He knows where we are going and where we will end up.
In Luke chapter 12, Jesus preaches to a giant crowd.
“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
If the Lord’s love and care reach as low as to the cheapest birds in the marketplace, how much more does His love reach towards us? The Bible tells us that God created us in His image, obviously with much more care than a two-penny sparrow.
Divine providence governs even the most inconsequential details of God’s creation. He cares for all that He created, regardless of how insignificant.
Jesus delights in us. He cares about what we go through and where we are, both physically and spiritually. While we have no reason to fear the future, we do have reason to fear God (Luke 12:5).
We fear God by obeying Him, by seeking His will in the place we find ourselves today. Instead of allowing our circumstances to drag us into monotonous comfort or obsessive control, let us realize that the Lord wants to lift us up into His presence.
If we change our perspective away from the just-another-day attitude and instead allow the Holy Spirit to excite us about the here and now, we will achieve so much more good for the Kingdom of God. We were made and placed with a purpose, so let us live our lives seeking the Lord’s perfect intention. After all, “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good.”
A few semesters ago, these thoughts weighed heavily on my mind. I wanted to be far away from my feelings and fears and often wished for different circumstances. However, laying down my hurts and fears to Christ have pushed me closer to Him. I realized I needed to stop wishing for change and instead glorify God with what I had at that time. I hope these passages of scripture moved you all as much as they moved me.
