I hate that I’m always ready for the next thing. I hardly get settled into one season of life and I’m already chomping at the bit to move on to the next. I so often work myself into a tizzy thinking that life and the world is going to pass me by if I don’t do something about it. It’s true we need to be proactive and strive to move forward, but not at the cost of becoming discontent with where we’re at.
The world tells us if you’re uncomfortable do something about it. Change it. I agree to some extent that we have to do our part, using the gifts an abilities He has given us but I also believe that God often times lets us linger in those uncomfortable seasons, no matter how much we try to escape them, for our growth and refinement.
We can fight and scrap and try to claw our way out but sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we feel stuck. I’ve been in that situation a number of times and I don’t like it. “No discipline is pleasant while its happening” (Heb 12:11) but it’s what we gain through our trials and times of wrestling with difficulty that teaches us perseverance, strengthens our character and teaches us to depend on God. Despite that, I recognize my own proneness to wanting whatever is “next.”
Somewhere deep inside my head is a little voice that’s telling me “just a little bit more. Once you get THERE then real life will begin.” At first it was leaving the small town I grew up in, then it was graduating from college. Since then it’s been when I finally meet someone. Now with someone in my life it’s becoming, if/when we decide to get married. I’m quite confident if we were to get there then I’d again reset the bar to a new standard and start striving towards that.
Working towards a goal is never a bad thing unless it causes you to be discontent with where you’re at. Our have it your way and have it now society leads us to believe that WE can change whatever situation we are in without giving any weight to what God might have in store for us…and that’s the hard part.
In my life, discovering what God has for me has usually involved long periods of waiting. In all honesty “long” is typically several months or in rare occasions, a couple of years, but in my mind, a few months might as well be an eternity. And that is where God is constantly refining me during this season
I never seam to have a problem being proactive and ready for the next thing. Instead I have a problem recognizing that my failed attempts and thwarted plans might instead be God leading me in a different direction or possibly sparing me some greater hardship.
Rather than become discontent God calls us to live in the moment. “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt 6:34) Give me today He says. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow will have it’s own issues. Give me today. Be all that you can be in me and for me today. Let that be enough and trust that when I’m ready for you to move on I will let you know.
This is real life here and you have put it in clear language. Bro, you are a deep thinker! My gosh! Anyway, I fully agree with what your spirit is calling you to do, even when your mind is not in that place of CONTENTMENT. As I read this, I clearly heard Paul say (in Phil 4:12): “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…”
You are in my prayers and I hope to learn the secret as well