In the midst of mine enemies, I eat a hearty meal. In the stress of the most difficult situation, I am able to laugh with few worries. In situations that would demand a scream of pain, I thank God that He is glorified with my voice rather than a shout of despair. He is faithful.
Prior to this month, I had the realization that I’d be learning a few important lessons about life, God, and myself. Initially, I had prayed for the best December of my life. God has answered this prayer in the most surprising of ways.
A story my mother frequently told us as children was the time where her father took the family out to get ice cream. “What would you like” he asked. “I want a vanilla ice cream cone” she replied. When asking the other kids, they simply said “Surprise me.” As you can imagine, the father came back to their table with wonderful frozen concoctions, and one vanilla ice cream cone. The ice cream cone looked quite plain when compared to the overflowing sundaes the other children were eating. How often do we do this?
At the outset of this month, I had a very clearly defined strategy of what would make this the ‘best’ December. There goes the vanilla ice cream cone. It took quite some time, but the outcome of this month has been drastically altered from what I had originally anticipated. In light of my request for the plaine Jane ice cream cone, God was faithful in providing me with an alternate outcome that surprised me.
That being said, there is a lot on my mind concerning the lessons I’ve learned. When spending some time in prayer and meditation, I felt the distinct urge that I am to do things “differently” this year than I have in the past. To explain this, you would have to take a close look at the rhythmic pattern my life seems to have. It’s predictable. I go through constant cycles of good, bad, righteous, sinful, happy, sad, active, lethargic. You could literally take the last three or four years of my life and draw a predictable chart. In order to do things differently, I’ve realized all of my actions will have to be taken into consideration on the minute level.
While I do not have New Year resolutions, I would say that I’m going to be doing everything possible to try and make this year turn out differently than previous years. I never, ever, want to be placed in the situation I was earlier this month. Things need to change. I need to take responsibility for my actions and take preventative measures to ensure I’m well covered in all areas
This requires further exploration.
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