Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
So Joseph said to his brothers, “…And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”
Genesis 45: 5 (ESV)
A bit of a cold front passed through last night. It’s definitely a bit cooler outside this morning. I suspect the weather in the Mid-Atlantic States may even be a bit cooler than here and a bit more interesting for family traveling that way. The roads will be a bit rougher out there this morning in those parts of the country, with the overnight impact of the changing weather. I suspect it won’t be long before snow flurries will show up in the mountains of North Carolina where I know my bride would love to go before much longer.
Yet from my vantage point at the moment, it’s warm, safe and secure within the sanctity of our home as I sit here with you to begin to watch the day unfold. I like that. You do, too, I suspect. A place of comfort where I want to stay—longer than I usually can—all day, actually, if I could. Oh but how I wish at times I could stay right there, not having to move to face what is before me. Anything but that. Well, almost anything.
You’ve been there. Maybe that’s where you are today. And you don’t want to leave the warmth and security of the moment. Heading out into something you just would rather not have to face, or even the uncertainty of something experience tells you must be there.
Life is a lot like that. No, life is like that! Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers—but realized that it was part and parcel of God’s plan for all He had ahead for him to do. We wake up each morning—hopefully not facing what Joseph faced—but often facing cold fronts, snow flurries and rough patches in the road before us. We’d often rather stay tightly wrapped in the warm, safe, secure wraps of familiarity. We can do that, of course. And we often do, for a while. That’s one option.
But even in those warm, secure and safe settings, we know there is something else, something more, and somewhere we have to go. We almost feel as though we are being sent. And we are. God is always sending us to something more than now—something more than we have experienced—something more than the comfort of the moment.
Because that’s why we were created. Cold fronts blow through. Rough patches scrape away at our comfort and hope. Snow flurries become “white-outs” that blur and blind our vision and direction. The warmth of where we are is where we want to stay. But that’s not what we were created for, staying put in the secure familiarity and comfort of where we are.
We were created to live and to go. We were created to be sent. We were created to blossom, out of our yesterdays and todays, out of the warm, secure comfort of where we are, and into the all the uncertainty and promise of tomorrow. We were created to leave and to live, and to warm the world around us with our lives—a world often struggling to find its way in the midst of cold fronts, rough patches and snow flurries.
Tall order it seems on those days where warm, safe and secure is all we want. Tall order when it seems we are standing all alone, and yet we are expected to go. But a tall order that the One who promises to be with us—always—can handle with us. One who will be with us when we are ready to step out and bloom into all we were created to be, and all we were created to do, with and for Him, and for all those who need us and Him, and are waiting for us.
Cold fronts, snow flurries and rough patches in the road ahead? Get up, get out and go. Let the fun begin—sent by and with Him. It’s what we were created for, and meant to be and do, for the rest of our lives.
In His Name—Scott
Copyright 2010. Scott L. Whitaker. All rights reserved.
