It’s just a theory, of course, but I suspect that if I asked you what you want your life to look like ten, fifteen, twenty years down the road, you’d probably list some expectations or goals that are already pretty established. Maybe it’s a city where you want to live, or the career you hope to have, or a mental list of your top ten favorite baby names. You might picture yourself living in a modern loft, you might look forward to serving people in developing nations, or you might dream of completing your first marathon by the time you’re twenty-five.
The bottom line is that you have some goals, even if you’ve never spoken them out loud. And more than likely, the to-do list for your future is filled with some good things.
If I may be so bold, though, I’d like to throw out an idea you might not love: the Lord is not bound by your list. He’s not motivated by it. He’s not going to change His plan because of it. He has so much more in store for you than you could ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). And sometimes one of the most difficult parts of growing up is surrendering what we think is best for what God knows is best. Sometimes it’s hard to let go of what we think our lives are supposed to look like.
I mean, when I was sixteen, if you had asked me what I wanted my future to look like, I would have said that I really wanted to make VHS mixtapes with all my favorite television clips and continue to add to my stirrup-pants collection.
Maybe I should be grateful that His ways are not my ways.
And let me encourage you with this bit-o’-truth: His ways are so much better.
A few weeks ago our family was at a high school football game with a couple of other families. As we approached the middle of the third quarter and our team’s lead was solidly in hand, some of our friends said they were going to head down the hill to our tailgating tent. My husband and I decided to follow suit about ten minutes later, and by the beginning of the fourth quarter, all of the kids had joined us. We dragged our fold-up chairs into a circle, and as the bands played and the crowd cheered, we must have covered fifteen different conversational topics. The kids wanted to share their opinions about school, the adults wanted to reminisce about their high school days, and we all wanted to chime in about what we like to watch on Netflix.
Can I tell you something?
That night was everything I never knew I wanted.
It was true, genuine community. And the older I get, the more I realize that if we have that—with Jesus at the center of it—then we really do have everything.
So dream big. Absolutely. But hold your dreams in an open hand. Don’t get so preoccupied with living an extraordinary life that you miss the blessings the Lord has for you smack-dab in the middle of the ordinary.
It’s the very best place to be.
1. When you were ten or eleven, what did you think your life would be like at the age you are now?
2. Does your life look the way you thought it would?
3. How do you typically react when you don’t get what you want? Is it easy for you to have a big-picture perspective (that maybe God’s doing something else), or do you get fixated on your circumstances?
4. Has there ever been a time in your life when you can honestly say you’re glad—maybe even relieved—you didn’t get what you thought you wanted?
Today’s Prayer