Finding Strength and Spiritual Insight In Moments of Waiting on God (2)

You were very sure of what you've been told...absolutely sure!
You are loved.
You are cared for.
You can leave your current rut and take this journey with him towards a better life with him soonest.
And so you accept the challenge and moved on with him.
You don't really know him that much yet, at least personally.
You've just heard a number of unverified "good" stories about him.
But compared to what you have and where you are at the moment, you wouldn't really want to be picky. You just want to head off to that better prospect, regardless of who brings you there.

But not too long after that, you begin to notice something.
It seems like your life and circumstances are not getting any better than it used to be.
Though your life back then wasn't that good, but you've come to the point of saying, "well... at least I had..." You are drawn back to the familiar and the tangible. For the most part of the journey, you are now uncertain whether there is really truth to what you have heard back then. You begin to feel like you have no one else to turn to but yourself. You are torn between believing him and his promise of a better future, or exercise responsible judgment based on the current circumstances. You begin to have the conviction that no one else will be responsible for everything that happens to you and your life, except you. You start finding your situation offensive. You now feel bad about the whole thing, even the prospect of things getting better. You like to turn back, but its easier said than done. You get angry at yourself, but most of all you get angry at him. You refuse to accept the fact that he gave you his word back then and that he continues to be true to that commitment. You want to call it quits. You have lost all the strength to move on. You have lost all excitement to what he has proposed early on. You just want to go your own way - back to how it was at least "within some controllable degree" familiar.

I'm not referring to any good looking guy out there who has promised you (or any lady in particular) the sun, moon, and the stars. Yes, this blog post is still about God and our relationship with Him.

In Scripture, I am reminded of that time when God (Yahweh) called and led the Israelite people out of Egypt. He introduced Himself to them as, "I Am Who I Am". Through Moses, He made the Israelite people know of His heart for them, and His great intentions of making them His people. He promised them a life in Canaan, which is going to be sufficient, flowing with milk and honey. They didn't really have the chance to know Him in an experiential way yet. But who would want to remain in slavery back in Egypt right? And so they march off with Him, with Moses and Aaron leading the way.

The journey could have just taken them a few days, and there they would be - into the Promised Land. But that was not what happened. Instead, God took them to a longer route.

In this route, they would begin to feel some degree of uncertainty. They would reach the point of grumbling and complaining against the whole deal. They would lose interest and soon enough desire to just quit, or worse, settle for less - perhaps life is still better back in Egypt. What was all these for? These people were excited. The promised land was just near. But why take the longer route? Why make them wait, in a sense, and not just get them there anyway? What was God thinking?

There was a reason behind the wait.
God knew what was needed for the moment, so the best he has purposed in the future will not be put to waste. We see that in Scripture in these words:

Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, "The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt. (Exodus 13:17)

Wow, isn't that amazing? Yahweh knew what was up ahead in the journey. Most importantly, He knew how the Israelite people would react to that given circumstance. And for this reason, he re-routed them to a much longer journey, to prepare them for "war". This preparation was not about taking up arms, but it was all about strengthening their hearts. They have to learn to know who was with them in this journey. God (Yahweh) was going with them. He promised to fight their wars and deliver them into the Promised Land. But will they trust Him to do that? They have been so familiar with the sound of their slave-drivers' whips, at it has made them cower in fear almost all of their lives. But they have not yet seen the powerful Hand of God at work on their behalf. When they reach the Promised Land, they will have to encounter a number of wars in the process of taking the land as their own. Without a change of heart, they will react the same way they have used to. They can be in their Promised land, and yet have hearts that are still much like they were in Egypt.

My friend once said of Tarzan ( i hope you know of this comic character)...

You can take Tarzan out of the jungle (and dress him up like an office worker) in an instant. But you cannot take the jungle out of Tarzan at once.

Perhaps through a series of personality development training, Tarzan will change his ways. But yeah, it takes more than just that right? It has to start from the heart, from the inside out, they say.

God promised you a life that is in line with His best purposes for and through you.
You heard him right, absolutely right.
You took steps of obedience, and was once very excited about it, however it may happen.
But along the way, God gets you into a holding pattern - you are made to wait.
At times, it already seemed unreasonable. Your wits tell you its just within arms reach, why not go for it right here right now? Why wait?

As we have seen from Scripture, He knows what is needed for the moment, in preparing you for the best up ahead. He knows the "wars" you will ultimately face in that promised relationship, job opportunity, joint venture, career change, major decision, and the like. He has promised it for you, yes - but has also purposed that you enjoy it to the fullest, giving Him greatest glory. He has purposed to place you in His holding pattern, perhaps so you can begin to know Him more. As you know Him deeper, you will be strengthened to face what is up ahead. Perhaps He wants you to know yourself even more - your strengths and your weaknesses. He wants you to learn to abide with Him and find your sufficiency in Him and His ways. Perhaps He is exposing wrong motivations and harmful tendencies within us, and so He puts us on hold, to prune us and mature us.

Only God knows what He is really up to in our waiting moments.
Its not our job to first understand why. Instead, He calls us to just obey and apply.
Yes, there is something that we are called to be doing while we are waiting on Him.
On my next blog post, I will be sharing on that.

But for now, perhaps the call of the moment is for you to come before the Lord and pour your heart out to Him. We need that once in awhile. We need to come before Him in all honesty and confess our hurts, our doubts and fears, our emptiness. By His grace, "it is okay not to be okay". He invites us to come to Him with our "weaknesses" forward, and in turn He reveals Himself to be our strength.

Yes, it is never easy being put on hold.
But what should make it comforting is the fact that we can trust Him to know what He is doing.
His ways are not our ways. But we can trust His heart of love.
Do that right now.

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See you in my next post on this subject. Shalom!

Finding Strength and Spiritual Insight In Moments of Waiting on God

Waiting.
We all have experienced that, in one way or the other.
More than anything else, it saps our energy, kills our enthusiasm, raises our temper...
We don't seem to see anything beneficial about the whole idea of waiting. "Time Is Gold" as they say. Every minute counts, and we feel like there is much lost than gained in waiting.

The other day, I was caught in slow traffic, while taking the taxi.
I just had enough loose change for my fare.
But as we waited for the traffic to flow, I kept looking at the taxi meter.
Every second counted, it never waited. The more it ticked, the more I lost money (without heading anywhere). The only one who seemed to be on the gaining side back then was the taxi driver.


There is good reason why we keep on improving how things go these days.
We would like things to be more efficient, more fast, in the hope that we can have more time for other things. From a time management point of view, it seems to say, the less time it takes for a chore to be done, the more time we have for other "quality" stuff. Well, we sure hope that is truly the case.
If so, no doubt, its gain. So let's applaud ourselves for what we have improved so far.
Thanks to microwave ovens, fast food restaurants, drive-thru restaurants, online shopping, skyways, freeways, and more!

But there is an aspect in our lives where waiting is most beneficial than rushing through.
In fact, if given serious thought and action, it can help us avoid unwanted consequences in the future.

God is good. We thank Him for the present favors and the promised future He has for all of us.

While waiting on Him though, we all have the tendency to lose proper perspective on everything else around us. When we are faced with some degree of difficulty, we end up hating everything about our current circumstances, instead of finding reason to appreciate some other things that comes alongside it. We complain about our homework, and fail to be thankful for being in school (while others just can't, regardless of how much they want to be in it).
We  complain against our workload or our boss, and fail to appreciate the fact that we have work.
We complain against our relationships, our stuff, and a whole lot more.

We also have the tendency to lose proper perspective of our spiritual identity and witness.
Who are we anyway? What do we have as a result of such? What kind of people should we be amidst opportunities and difficulties then?
See, we have the tendency to ignore the fact that we are not left on our own. We are loved by our Heavenly Father. This is every Christian's source of confidence. We have His promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us, most specially in difficult times. He promised to be our all-sufficient provider, that we will not be lacking anything that we need in life. When we lose sight of that truth, we respond in doubt, fear, anger and resentment. We get too anxious over a lot of things. We end up groping in the dark, seemingly helpless. We turn to the sides and look for other sources of help, apart from God.

We also have the tendency to lose proper perspective of the challenges at hand. We look at it as if its too overwhelming. Worse, we begin to see ourselves unable to move on, and we give up. We give up on our God-given dreams, opportunities, and responsibilities. We back out too soon, even on God.

We have the tendency then to lose proper perspective of the promises and purposes of God for our lives. As a result, we put things into our hands, and trade that which is of greater value for that which is not. We have convinced ourselves one way or the other that we only have ourselves to count on, that we can go right into something and expect a better result apart from God.
Is the job I have these days the very one that God has purposed for me, or have I rushed things and settled for something less? Is the present relationship I have these days the very one that God has purposed for me, or have I jumped into it quick and settled for less?
I see a lot of examples around of people who have settled for less, all because they refused to wait for the Lord's best for their lives. All the more we are challenged to really wait on God, and let Him work things out, aware of the fact that He knows best.

What is God doing in our moments of waiting on Him?
I invite you to wait... for my next blog post on this topic.

For now, one request.
Please take time to comment, or share this blog post to many more friends.
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Thank you very much for taking the time to do all these.

See you again on the next post!

Family: Invest Moments, Not Just Money!

"My Greatest Treasure: Our Happy Family"

This is no easy subject. I know of people who truly value their family so much, that they work so hard away from home just to give them "the best" of what hard earned money can buy.

Someone once said, "there is so much good that can be done with money, than without money." 

In a sense, I agree to that. 

As a father, I desire my to put quality food on the table in every meal. I desire to keep everyone in the home healthy, or if sickness strikes, I desire to have the needed amount to get them the proper medication. I desire to clothe them well. I desire to keep them warm under a stable house, filled with most of that which would make their living comfortable and safe. I desire to send them to a good school and give them the best education. These and more definitely comes with a price - money.

On the other hand though, the pressure of trying to meet up with such a monetary goal somehow forces one to be "in the work place" most often than being physically present with family members to enjoy all of these together with them. I have heard of many complaints from family members, growing up children at that, who decry the fact that their parents are not with them (either or both) in special occasions in their lives (birthdays, school play, games, graduations, and more...). If ever they are physically home on given occasions, either one is still preoccupied with work (brought home), or is physically exhausted to actually spend quality time with their children. When confronted with this concern, the quickest answer though is, "I am doing all of these for you, can't you see?"

I like this clip from the movie, "The Tree of Life".

This scene here shows us what is really of greater value in the long run.

  

Have we actually settled for less?

Did we trade that which is of greater value for that which is fleeting?

At the end of life's journey, would we look back and still ask "how much have we earned and bought for our family members?" Too often, when a person is almost dying, they don't ask for more hours or days to live so they can go out there and earn some more money. 

Our family members won't wish for the same either. 

Instead, if ever your life is extended, they would want that to be "spent with them". 

The thought of it is very special isn't it? 

However short our remaining days may be, these will still be the very "moments" they will cherish of you, and at best, have it affect their lives onwards.

But hey, why wait until then, when we can start today?

Let's take every opportunity to build memories with our family members - it counts most. 

The power of presence can never be ignored. 

We are multi-sensory beings, and it would be wise to take note of that. 

Educational institutions have seen its potential for affective learning. Why shouldn't we leverage that knowledge to the fullest by engaging in multi-sensory experiences with our family members? 

It is one thing to let them hear those precious words, "I love you!" It is likewise important that we engage the sense of touch, smell, sight... get the idea? Each multi-sensory "moment" we spend with our family members will go a long long way towards positive change and progressive development in each of our given relationships in life. 

Some practical suggestions here:

Go grab your digital camera and go outdoors together as a family!

Buy an affordable camera if you still don't have one.  

Yes, take pictures! 

But most importantly, invest "moments" in those shots! 

Let those photos speak a thousand words. 

Let's make sure that whenever one looks back at those photos again in the future, they will have a multi-sensory recollection of that moment. 

Let them say, "oh we were laughing out loud here" "we were having such a great time when this shot was taken". 

Too bad, digital cameras today still can't record "physical touch" "warm hugs" "affirming words" "an encouraging voice", but I thank the good Lord for how He has uniquely given each one the capacity to store those multi-sensory experiences in our hearts and minds. 

Wow! isn't all these all worth it?

An Attitude of Gratitude

They say one's attitude determines one's altitude. 
In life, it always pays to have the right attitude.  
Be it at home, in school, at work, attitude plays an integral part in determining your ultimate success or failure. 


Let's look at work for example.
Opportunities are scarce these days. But with the proper attitude, one can get by rather well, as compared to one who has a negative attitude over such difficulties and challenges. As they say, either you leverage your difficulties to make you better, or let your negative attitude towards it overwhelm you and make you bitter. On the other hand, one can get into a good paying job for some reason. But still, it is one's attitude that determines whether one gets to be productive at work or not; or even stay there for long. 


Here's a guy that always inspire me. Each time I feel tempted to think negatively about my circumstances, I grab this video and watch it quick for some much needed attitude check and adjustment. Enjoy!

One of the most important attitude to have in life is an attitude of gratitude!
For as long as we have the right understanding of life and everything that we have, it will always help us have the proper perspective which results to an attitude of gratitude in all things, at all times. Conversely, if we keep a heart of gratitude, and choose to face life and its ups and downs with it, it manifests itself in the form of a positive attitude - which then influences our altitude in life. 

Wonderful isn't it? So choose to always have an attitude of gratitude, in everything.