The Bigger Picture

I can't stand recipe books which don't include pictures of the finished product.

 

I am sold on the image and if I can't see what it is I am meant to be making, I am unlikely to bother cooking the recipe.  Some of my proudest moments (seriously) have included photographing my finished meal/dish in front of the recipe book propped open at the appropriate page to show just how accurately I have managed to follow the recipe and replicate the end product.

 

If I don't know what it's meant to look like, how am I meant to make it?

 

In the same way, I wrote yesterday about jigsaw pieces and it got me to thinking how irritating it is to try to complete a jigsaw puzzle when you don't actually know what the picture is you're trying to copy.

 

I don't cope very well with not knowing where life is heading - not being able to see the picture I'm aiming for.

 

If I can't see the picture, how do I know if I'm doing it right?

 

I'm beginning to see how narrow my view of life is in this way: maybe I don't need to know the plan all of the time.  Maybe I don't need to see the 'bigger picture' before I start living.  Maybe there isn't one 'right' or 'perfect' way to live it.

 

In Jeremiah, God says,

"I know what I'm doing, I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for."

 

[Jeremiah 29:11 MSG]

 

Subconsciously, I have always added a few lines to this verse.  I have included the fact that not only does God have good plans for us, but that He will reveal these good plans.  I seem to imagine that I am somehow 'entitled' to know all of His plans.

 

But maybe I'm not.  Maybe I don't need to see the bigger picture, because God can.

 

 

 

The Frustrations Of Unpredictable Weather

I have found the inconsistencies and unpredictabilities of the recent weather forecasts irritating.  Where snow is concerned, I want to know if I can get excited about it or not.

 

I'm not interested in "maybe" or "possibly" so far as the weather is concerned.  I don't want a percentage of the likelihood of snow or rain or sleet.  I want the actual facts.  I want to know what to expect.

 

Guessing is no use to me.

 

It's a bit like in one of Michael McIntyre's sketches where he says how whenever you ask someone for the time, if they don't know, they will still guess.  I think it's about three.

 

He says, I didn't ask you to guess the time.  I can do that myself.

 

Similarly, I don't need a weather forecast to guess the weather.  I can do that myself.

 

I appreciate that predicting the weather isn't that straightforward or predictable, so no matter how much I want to know for definite what the weather is doing, that won't happen.

 

Still, it would be useful wouldn't it? 

 

You'd know what shoes/coat to wear.  You'd know whether to bother straightening your hair or, more importantly, not to waste time straightening it if it is soon to face the rain.

 

It would make planning for life much easier.

 

But unfortunately, it is not possible.

 

I suppose the weather forecast is an act of faith: will we believe it or not? 

 

Similarly, our walk with God is an act of faith: I don't always know what's going to happen in my life.  I am not perfectly prepared for every eventuality.  But I don't need to be when I'm trusting in God.

 

Faith isn't so much about what you can see, but about what you choose to see and about who you trust to show you.

 

"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see."

 

[Hebrews 11:1 NLT]
 

I will never get the perfect weather forecast that tells me exactly what I want to know.  There will always be an element of faith and trust involved.  And, this side of heaven, I will never get to know for sure what God is planning on doing in my life - I will never have the perfect 'life forecast'. 

But whilst I don't know what might happen, I know the One who knows.  And that's enough for me.

 

 

 

 

 

This Time Next Year

I read a really interesting article today: it imagined that it was the end of 2013 and reflected on what had happened over the past year.

 

It made me think about what might happen to me and for me in 2013 and what I'll be thinking or feeling this time next year.

 

So often, we have a tendency to drift through life, without really paying attention to what's happening.  We keep our heads down for the most part and only raise them at significant moments - birthdays, Easter, Christmas, holidays - and when we raise them and look around us, we are astonished at how quickly the time has passed. 

 

Sometimes we can feel as though we haven't really achieved anything or moved forwards in any way.  Time drifts past and we remain unaltered.

 

But if we want to look back this time next year and feel that things have changed - that we have changed - we need to be intentional about it.  We need to look around us and take stock of things and decide what we want to happen in the next year.

 

Obviously not everything is in our control, but often a lot more is in our control than we realise.  Sometimes it is nicer and safer to assume that nothing is in our control - we don't have to feel responsible when things don't go our way.

 

The best thing is to take some time to honestly assess where we are right now and to spend some time thinking and praying through where we hope to be this time next year.  For although we can plan where we'd like to be, God's plans are not always the same as ours.

 

        "'My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,' says the Lord.

        'And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

        For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,

        so my ways are higher than your ways

        and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.'"

 

        [Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT]

 

 

No matter what we can plan or imagine for the year to come, God's plans will always surpass ours.  His plans are bigger than ours.  Unimaginable.