Panera has entirely too many choices for bagels. I grew up with PLAIN, BLUEBERRY, and CINNAMON RAISIN.
I blame New York, personally. They gave us all the concept of hundreds of different varieties of bagels, but did not warn us that this kind of variety is given for a city of thirty bajillion people.
God often uses my AM quiet time to shove things in my face that I would never, ever, ever see otherwise. Even if it's all coming together, I would never see it if not for the "living and active" status of His Word.
This morning's lesson: STOP GRABBIN' THE DANG WHEEL! The surest way to cause a wreck while someone else is driving is to grab the wheel and try to steer yourself. The fact is that whether I like it or not God is in the driver's seat, and will remain there for the duration of everything. Amen, thank you Jesus. But why do we get so bummed and frustrated and flat-out neurotic when we have to stop trying to drive?
I personally hate driving. It is a nifty and efficient way to get where I am going, no lie. It can also be a zen experience with the proper stretches of pavement. Also, my GPS has changed my life and made driving a much more pleasant experience. Still, with all this....I hate driving. There is nothing worse than being in thick traffic with people weaving in and out half an inch from my bumper and having to brake hard with said people all up in my car's bidness. I would much rather have someone else driving.
There's a catch, though. As POC alumni Laura can attest, I am a complete wuss when it comes to letting others drive. I have to spend tense moments with my hands over my eyes. Laura even started just slapping her hand across my eyelids when she was about to do something squirrely. This is a necessary preventative measure.
See, I've got really, really, really, REALLY bad depth perception. This has made me a much safer driver than I might otherwise be, as I always brake slowly, carefully, and always just a smidge early. Others without this handicap do not find this necessary. Therefore, their safe distance is my "OMG IM GONNA DIE" zone. I am aware of my own deficiency, and know that if I watch, I will scream. Or try to grab the wheel.
Problem with life is that we can't close our eyes and not look while God drives. He wants us to watch the scenery, learn from Him, talk to Him. But we all have really awful spiritual depth perception. So we see what we think is impending disaster, when in actuality, God's already got His foot on the brake. And we scream. And grab the wheel. And then we WRECK.
Shocked? I hope not.
In Psalm 42 David is giving his soul a pep talk, telling himself over and over to put his trust in God Almighty, reminding himself of the great works God has wrought. Later, in chapter 44, he reminds himself that in all these instances it was nothing of human doing that brought about these miracles.
"It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them to victory; it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, for You loved them."
And guess what? He loves us too. We are every bit as much His chosen ones as the Israelites were. We were adopted into His family as blood relatives, dear children of a mighty King. Even when we act like little brats, we're still His children, and our hands will not win the fight. His hands over ours will, though.
Trusting God is hard for me right now, and I know it's hard for some other people in my life. It's not gonna stop being hard.
But what if, for just a second, we put our hands in our laps and stopped looking at the road ahead and started looking at our Daddy's face? What if we saw that its calm, relaxed features showed no symptom of being lost or confused or stressed by the traffic? The heart takes what the heart needs, so we're going to feel the way we're going to feel and there's not a damn thing we can do about it. Except trust. And hope. And believe. And praise through and in and around difficulty. And I think that's quite enough of a full time job, especially during the hard times.
Let's face it, side-seat driving is just gonna make us carsick.
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