Lately, I have been contemplating why we have so little. Often in life, there are times of trial and testing, and we have to work for God's blessing. Why is it the the beautiful times in life seem so few and far between? They are like a few points of light in a whole field of darkness. We can tend to fall into self-pity, or worse, self-condemnation when we end up in these great, endless fields of darkness.
But does not God delight to give his blessing?
Indeed! It is very beautiful when we receive God's blessing, but it is even beautiful when we give to God.
It is when we offer something of value to Him that He can work with it, and bless us. But what shall the offering be? It must be something of value to us or the offering would not mean anything. Perhaps it is something material, or perhaps it is something you want or need, such as love, or time, or even certain thoughts, desires, or even a way of thinking.
It is through each daily offering that we begin to grow strong.
When I stand before God and He asks me, What have you done with my gift?
What am I going to tell Him?
What will I say? God forbid that I stand there hunting around in my brain for the few instances that I used my gift for good, thinking of others... and then thinking of all those times when I wish I would have trusted God instead of trying to bless myself.
The truth is, God has given me a gift. He gives a gift to everyone, and it is our responsibility to use that gift, use it for good, and give it back to God. Find your gift and honor Him with it by giving it back to him. It could be anything- understanding how a machine works, doing manual labor, being able to write clearly and powerfully, making fast decisions, painting pictures, being able to communicate and articulate to others. Maybe you can grasp concepts and delight in learning. Perhaps your gift is more on a spiritual side. Maybe it’s being able to forget what others have done to you the day before, not holding a grudge. Perhaps it’s not complaining. Maybe your gift is finding light and goodness in dark places. Perhaps you love eating. Maybe your gift is letting go. Maybe you can be content with very little. Maybe your gift is not valuing material possessions. Maybe you can make people smile because that’s just who you are.
Whatever it is, find a way to give it to God. Otherwise, we’ll end up trying to bless ourselves and give things to ourselves, and then there won’t be room for His blessing. And He longs to bless us!
It’s hard to do sometimes, and I have failed so many times. Probably more than most because I try. And you have to make a commitment. When you try, you’ll usually fail. In that sense, Yoda was more right then he knew.
The fact is, there is a contentment and a peace that comes with trusting God that we can find no place else. Even when our life seems to be falling apart around us, and it seems like everyone’s how to get us, and how everything seems to be trying to get us to suffer as much as possible, this is when it’s hardest, and most important to learn to trust God. Life will test us. God will test us. We can think we’re strong, but then God will take us to a place that we would not willingly take ourselves. The only reason being to see if you are really ready. If you can trust Him and not worry about how everything else is falling apart. If you trust Him, He’ll take care of it.
And look at it this way: When you let it go and trust God, one day, all those problems are going to disappear like they never existed. They will burn and you will rise from the ashes stronger, more resilient, humbler, and wiser than you were before. More willing to trust God the next time something happens. If you don’t trust God, and hope the problems will just go away if you can survive long enough, something will grow weaker inside you instead of stronger. And if it burns, you will burn with it.
In the end, it is a passing thing, this darkness. The sunrise will come. It’s amazing how bad the problems can look, how dark the world seems when we look at it through the wrong eyes. If we focus instead on being thankful, and looking for the light, we’ll find it. And then the darkness doesn’t seem nearly as overwhelming. In fact, the night then seems to pass rather fast and we wake to swift sunrise, and the dawning colors bring life to those things around us that we couldn’t see just because it was so dark.
We must learn to look out of the right eyes, by holding to those things of light inside of us. The day we stop, is the day the darkness will win.
It’s something that’s been on my mind a lot lately and something I needed to say, if only to put it down on paper. Things are always easier when I do. I wish the dearest blessing on all those who believe and trust in the light. Peace is coming!
May God go with you!
~KnightRanger
*I must give credit and my everlasting thanks to Paul Henry, and Joanna Sparks who have helped me see and understand more of the light and of God than I could ever hope to learn on my own, and for getting me to think. May God go with you and bless you! Thank you so much for your guidance in my times of darkness!
*Recommended reading: The Christmas Sweater, by Glenn Beck.
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