Today I woke up feeling motivated to make a nice breakfast.  Though 5:00 am and having to leave to work in 30 minutes, I baked some Pillsbury croissants with chocolate chips wrapped in them, as well as made an English muffin with a sausage paddy, an over easy egg, and maple syrup.  And of course: Coffee – black!

After eating and spending some time in Isaiah, I headed to work a little later than I wanted. On my commute, I noticed a certain car in front of me. I should point out that my morning commute is endless stop-and-go for anywhere from and hour to two, so I often find myself wanting to maneuver to the fastest lanes, and I mentally mark cars in my mind to know if I am making progress.  I decided to move to a faster lane this morning; but somehow, miles ahead I noticed the car I used to be behind way up ahead of me. This bothered me – all my work and I lost ground!  I made it my goal to get back behind that car, as if that would be some sort of victory.  But as I made progress, I began to think: “do I live all my experiences this way?” (my wife will likely chuckle at this point, knowing me all too well)

I realized that if my greatest goal when things get rough is to get back where I started – behind someone else – then I am missing out on a lot in life!!  For one thing, comparing myself to someone else’s progress makes the assumption that my success is based on criteria set by others. For another thing, hopefully I picked someone amazing to follow because if I am always trying to catch up to others, then the most I can ever accomplish is whatever the other person is able to accomplish!

So I decided that wouldn’t be my plan anymore.  Instead, I would trust God’s timing in my life and let Him take me where He wants to.  In this case, I passed that car – leaving them in the dust.  This isn’t the point though, as I could have easily fallen further behind in terms of “who’s ahead on the road”; yet, having put my trust in God to lead my steps I would find that His timing would have advanced me further in the purposes HE has for me.

An example is from my wife who went to a party not knowing it was a formal ordeal as she dressed in jeans.  This could have been seen as a failure except that another woman was sitting outside the event devastated and upset because she also didn’t dress appropriately.  My wife was able to encourage her and they both went boldly into the party and had a great time despite the error.  My point is that the upset woman had compared herself to the expectations of others and found herself lacking; yet, God’s plan for my wife was to be a comfort to her, and so my wife’s mistake ended up not being an error at all, but a blessing. This is how it is with all of us when we entrust our paths to God.  To the world we will appear foolish, but God will shut the mouth of the world through the fruit produced by our foolishness.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. – 1 Cor 1:25-29