My daughter is a great juggler. She has tried to teach me, but it isn’t my forte. As a mom you’d think that it would come naturally. Most days Mothers juggle multiple schedules and circumstances, and they are all in the air and constantly moving.
Juggling however, isn’t something God asks us to do.
We juggle because of a desire to manage all our circumstances for the best possible outcome. I strive to be on top of all the scenarios so that I can keep everyone I love from failure, pain, and disappointment.
The truth is, I can’t keep them from these things, and what’s more, it isn’t my job. Here’s the problem: I’m not actually able to pick the best possible outcome. I have limited information and limited vision.God is the only person qualified to keep them. He knows that pain is often the road to purpose. His vision extends beyond today. He can see that short term pain pays big dividends in eternity.
Enter Psalm 138:8, “The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands”. It’s not my job to fulfill my purpose, It’s God’s. It’s not my job to fulfill His purpose for my children. He’s got that one too. The NKJV version of this verse is perfect for my heart, “the Lord will perfect that which concerns me.” See, I told you “perfect”. This literally means that God will make perfect everything that I am concerned about.
That’s a big job because the list of things that concerns me is ridiculous!!! I am concerned about pretty much everything. My list isn’t limited to things actually happening, it includes things that could possibly happen, and more frequently than I’d like to admit…even things that couldn’t possibly happen.
Here’s the thing I love so much about how God works. He doesn’t need me to juggle all that concerns me; He’s got it, but He invites me to participate. How you ask?
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.
Tell God what you need and thank Him for what He has done.”
Philippians 4:6 NLT
If I were ever going to get a tattoo this would be the perfect choice for me.
God doesn’t simply say, “Drop those balls, you can’t juggle, stop thinking about this”.
He invites me to turn my thoughts away from worry and invest them in something useful, prayer. Prayer is the way God lets us participate in the perfection of the things that concern us. In His infinite wisdom, He has given us the gift of participation.
Why? Well I have no idea on that one.
If I were God, I wouldn’t let us have a say in anything. But scripture shows us time and time again that God uses our prayers to affect His perfect will. I’ll just be thankful for it.
I have often used this gift of prayer to pray for specific circumstances, and there is nothing wrong with that. God loves to hear my ideas much like I love to hear my six-year old’s ideas for how we should have cotton candy for dinner. He makes me smile! I think God loves to hear my ideas. I also think He loves it when I grow up enough to make bigger requests. I want to make my prayers bigger than the circumstances because my God is bigger than the circumstances.
I’m learning how to pray for God’s ultimate purposes for my children, that they be perfected in Christ, not just happy on earth. I’m steering my prayers away from changing of circumstances to building endurance through circumstances.
I want to start seeing beyond my circumstances and focusing on God until I gain His vision.
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