Ever taken a picture with an old polaroid? You get one chance to get that perfect shot. It prints out automatically and within a few minutes, the picture fully develops.
I think that if you’re feeling impatient or stuck in a rut, you could see God’s plan for your life as a polaroid type deal.
Polaroids are so fun because you get to watch the picture you just took print out and slowly come into focus, and then bam, you’ve got it in your hand. No uploading pictures, no SD cards, no trips to CVS or orders off Shutterfly. It’s instant.
Here’s the thing–it does take time for the picture to show up. There’s a few moments in between taking the picture and finally being able to see it where you’re thinking to yourself, “Did I blink? I blinked, didn’t I…”
It’s like this: God is constantly working in our lives. Every minute, He’s doing something. But more often than not, we don’t even realize it–not at the time, at least. It takes a while, some waiting, for the full picture to come into focus. For us to be able to look back at that specific moment and go, “Oh, that’s what was happening.” And just like a polaroid print, the more time that goes by, the clearer our understanding becomes.
We don’t always feel God with us. Believe me, He’s there, but I think anyone can relate to feeling like you’ve been left behind. Like you’ve made no progress, like nothing in your life has changed at all, like you’re stuck in the same place. It happens. But one of my favorite quotes says, “God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” Just because you can’t see them yet doesn’t mean great things aren’t coming–just like just because you can’t see your picture yet doesn’t mean it’s never going to show up.
Sometimes life is just rough, plain and simple. Sometimes we blink in pictures. Sometimes our hair gets in our faces. And sometimes we lose people or hope or just our sense of self in general. But in every good thing there’s that little area of time where the picture is developing–the middle ground between the past and the future, between who we were and who we’re becoming. And that’s that crucial time where we have to learn to lean fully on Him, to learn that He is enough–He is all we need. It’s a waiting game, and it’s hard, and I’m more impatient than you’d think possible, and if you are too, you understand where I’m coming from, but it’s all worth it, because once that picture develops you finally see why God was doing what He was doing–why maybe He seemed silent, or why He brought or took people in or out of your life, why this or that happened. Everything finally clicks.
One more thing? With polaroids it’s a one-and-done deal. You have one chance to get the perfect picture, that’s it. With God–you’ve got endless chances to get it right. Because He knows that as humans sometimes we will blink, or smudge the picture as it’s trying to dry. But He is so patient and loving that even when we don’t have faith in His plan or we do something unexpected because we couldn’t wait for the image to develop, He’s got a million different ways to get you back on track–trust in Him and trust that He will always guide you back onto the right path, that He will always make sure you get that clear, focused picture in the end.
“But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” -Romans 8:25
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” -2 Peter 3:9
