Unmuted

{Photo courtesy of Flickr}

Why does everything have to make sense in hindsight? Get a new set of eyes! Today as I was signing up for some classes, I was thinking about this last season of my life. Then I was thinking about the craziness of my life over the last two years. The move from California to Oklahoma, then from Oklahoma to Illinois, then from Illinois to California …from school to school, church to church. There were things God spoke to me to do, that made no sense to anyone including me. There were tears shed in frustration of having to leave my friends and pack up again. But I never want to live my life wondering, “what if I had just followed the Holy Spirit.” I personally want God’s best and if that meant packing up my bags every four months, then so be it. This thought process got me thinking, why do our lives and pasts always make sense in hindsight. Why is it that it is only when we are through that we see the immense value a season of our lives had. And sometimes we get in season that, honestly, seem so mundane. They seem so ordinary and pointless. I really struggle with mundane, ordinary, and pointless. I feel so frustrated and restless. I am an eagle always searching for new heights to fly to, when sometimes God just wants us to rest on a ledge for a while so He can love and minister to us. Reality is, I’ve probably missed a lot of rest and joy and peace in my life constantly pursuing new heights. I’ve probably missed the immense value in what I do everyday, searching for something that I felt was “great” or worth my time. And that brings a godly sorrow to my heart.

I believe that God wants to give us His eyes for all seasons of our lives. I don’t believe we have to walk through seasons of our lives with blinders on until we see it from some peak, in hindsight. They say hindsight is 20/20, but I think we can have 20/20 right in the midst of the valley, right in the midst of the desert…. Barren land can’t truly be barren when the river of living water is flowing through us! We are children of God, for goodness sakes! We are life to barren places. Often we see valley’s and deserts as horrible times to walk through, but maybe we should ask God for a new set of eyes, to see desert places as places of great potential for new rivers of life to flow through.

Why does any minute of my life have to be fruitless or mundane? I am supposed to be a light… a beacon of God’s love. My very presence should liberate and free others. Who I am should inspire others to come out of hiding. My love for those people in my everyday life should make people question what is different about me. But if I don’t allow God to give me new eyes… if I don’t ascribe value to what I see as “mundane” then I am in danger of leading others to believe that what they do is also just as pointless. My frustration and constant restlessness will speak to others that their lives are also pointless and not good enough.

Greatness is not about how many missions trips you’ve been on. Its not about how many stages you’ve testified on, or what great ministry school you are attending. Greatness is irrevocable. Greatness rests in the fact that you are a child of God. Greatness is the love that radiates through you. Greatness is the light that shines through your very being simply because of your identity in Christ. We search diligently for something “great” to define us, all the while missing our moment by moment chance to just be who we are… great.