Dominoes

Dominoes.  For me, this week, it all came down to dominoes.  I happen to be a very perceptive person who is prone to scrutinizing things.  Better said, I am not very good at accepting things at face value.  This week, though, I seemed to be noticing more and more of the negative things around me: the way friendships were breaking, organizations were missing the point, people were failing, Christians were failing.  An all-around disappointment in life started to occupy my mind, first one thing, then another, then another.  Domino after domino fell and before I knew it I had entire path of fallen dominoes in my wake and I became stuck on this path of negativity.  And, worse yet, it was starting to manifest itself physically.  Usually I can hide it.  But not always.  I became grumpier, less animated, my conversations were forced at best.  And people were beginning to take notice.

How do I get my miserable self out of this entangled sticky web of negativity?

Well, not by myself, that’s for sure.

In those moments, I was too lost in my own vortex of sour thinking that I failed to realize the vast amount of Peace and Joy within my reach.  I was so blinded by my darkness that I failed to see the Light reaching out to me.  But then it all changed—I was lost and blind, but was rescued and given sight!  And it happened to come in the most normal of ways—a song.  I happened to be listening to Rend Collective Experiment’s version of “10,000 reasons” (listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPI_DIqICP0).  Let’s just say it was a healthy dose of spiritual reality and it brought me back to the reason I’m alive at all: my Creator made me, my Savior liberated me, my Spirit inspires me. 

Since that song, God has step by step guided me back into the joyful light of his presence, a place where I can rejoice and sing of the more than 10,000 reasons I am blessed today.  Here I’ll share with you a few of the things God placed into my life this week:

Proverbs 3:5-6:

“Do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take” (NLT). 

My devotions from yesterday:

“I, the Creator of the universe, am the most creative Being imaginable.  I will not leave you circling in deeply rutted paths.  Instead, I will lead you along fresh trails of adventure, revealing to you things you did not know.  Stay in communication with Me.  Follow My guiding Presence” (Sarah Young, Jesus Calling, p. 314). 

My Bible study on Gideon:

“Gideon could have avoided this domino effect… Continuing a vibrant fellowship with God would have kept him on course with divine purpose…Seeking God and His will must remain our constant desire and aspiration… When the dominoes of life cave in, our level of steadiness will be equal to our level of fellowship with the Father” (Priscilla Shirer, Gideon, pp. 144-145). 

Finally, from 2 Corinthians 4: 6-9:

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.  But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (NIV). 

I stand here (or rather sit here) amazed at how God speaks to me, lending his Divine voice to guide my wavering feet.  I may not always hear His voice (I may at times listen harder to the white noise of life that drowns out His voice) but I do know that he is always speaking to me: in nature, in people, in Scripture, in art, in life.  She who has an ear, let her hear His voice calling out to His beloved children.

Stay tuned!