Life is Sweet

When you were a kid, did you ever eat so much of a sweet thing that it made you sick? Like your mom made a chocolate cake, or there was a buffet, and you just loved it so much that you reasoned, with your small child brain, that obviously eating this thing to an excess would make it much better?

But the reality of that situation, was that it didn't get better. In fact, after one bite too many it tasted worse AND you were sick to your stomach.

For my brother and I, our personal favourite poison was slushies. Like the ones from gas stations and movie theatres that turn your teeth a different colour. We thought they were the greatest thing, but they were so sweet that we couldn't handle it and after too many sips we would get sick.

Do you want to know what's NOT like that? The Lord's blessings.

Shockingly, when the Lord answers our prayers, they won't make us sick.

Want to know who forgot that?

Me.

Allow me to elaborate: in the last week or so, I allowed myself to grow stagnant in my perspective of the world. I grew close minded, and got to be so hyper focused on what I don't have, that I forgot how wonderful it can be to savour what I do have.

I let the Devil plant negative thoughts and lies in my mind, that sucked the joy out of things that I could have been praising the Lord for providing.

Life, I've realised, is full of sweet things if we are only making ourselves available to take a bite.

One of the most moving things I ever witnessed was on a mission trip to Mexico, where it is just so abundantly clear that these people have a joy for life, while seemingly having nothing. They were making the most out of a bad situation. So, shouldn't we, in our blessings that give us everything, be able to do the same thing?

Instead, we get sucked into the rat race of life and the lies of the Devil, and start focusing on planning the next thirty years of our life away, when maybe, the Lord just wants us to be present for the next thirty days. Maybe, the Lord is calling you to stop and enjoy life. Try it, back away from the planner, put down the pencil, and start embracing exactly where you're at. I can go ahead and tell you, it will feel a whole lot better to take that moment to breathe, then it will to orchestrate your own man made plan for events that are yet to pass.

Now let me add, the Lord doesn't want us to stop preparing for the future, because He is a god of order with intentional design, but He does want us to surrender that design to Him.

See lately, I've been studying in 1 Samuel in the Bible and I realised that this is so true for David.

The Lord had an intentional plan for David to be king, that the Lord laid out from the time that David was a young boy, but his path to the throne was anything but conventional.

For starters, when Samuel came to find the son of Jesse that would be the next king, David wasn't even home (1 Samuel 16). Instead, Samuel went to every other brother first while David was out fulfilling his purpose in the fields. Then, when David is anointed king by Samuel, he's still left at his home to keep being a shepherd. It was actually Saul (the king he was supposed to replace) who brought David to the palace, and even then, it was to serve as a harp player (1 Samuel 16). So you think, surely, by the time David defeats Goliath he will be crowned king, but even then, the Lord continues to take David on a different path. Saul tries to kill David, a number of times, and David is on the run for years (1 Samuel 18). And it's not until Saul ends his own life in a losing battle, that David can at last fulfil his role as king, which we know will turn out to be another journey in and of itself (1 Samuel 31).

One of the greatest kings in the Bible, outside of Jesus himself, took nearly 15 years to even ascend the throne, let alone be the man God was intending him to be.

We can look at this situation one of two ways:

1) Question why God would make David go through such a difficult journey to simply reach his purpose.

2) Or, see all the things that David gained along the way - a best friend that was closer than a brother, a deeper faith in God, two wives, a loyal army, strength and smarts that helped him lead, experience in battle, spoils from the cities he conquered, fulfilling Joshua's failed mission of destroying enemies of the Lord, and the opportunity to express true mercy on his enemies.

So many different things that David got to experience because he fully embraced where the Lord was taking him, instead of trying to hurry along to the next step.

That croissant in the picture was one of the ways I am working on savouring life. I went to a little town that I'd never heard of by myself, I bought a coffee and a croissant, and I sat on a park bench and watched the trains pass. It was nothing revolutionary, I didn't risk anything crazy, but it was new, and simple, and sweet, and one of those moments that you just can't help but enjoy.

I think we need more moments like that. They make us want to give back so others can savour them, and they help us breathe a little easier, and really relish what the Lord is doing for us.

So, do it. Taste the croissant, bake the cookies, have the adventures, see all the wonderful things the Lord is doing in your life, and then, praise Him; for the highs and the lows and the pit stops along the way.

Here's to enjoying the road side attractions...

-Emma

"Be fearless in pursuit of what sets your soul on fire."