Surviving the Wilderness.

I am part of a small group that meets every other Sunday or so and also for family game night about once every couple of months. Small groups are meetings of a smaller numbers of people than a church service or Sunday School class. At our church even the Sunday School classes can be the size of small churches elsewhere thus the reason for a smaller group to be accountable to and have fellowship with. We have a pretty well established group and it has become much more important in my life that I would ever have imagined. I am a sceptic won over by some great people. All of that to say...we had a great discussion Sunday evening.

It wasn't that we made any great revelations but we came to realize that each of us is going through our own version of the Israelites in the wilderness. We each had things to share about how we are waiting on the promised land. What we may have discovered is that

• The Wilderness might not be as lonely as we each first thought. We each are fighting something that makes us feel lost and sometimes without a way out.
  

• Just Because we can't see Land doesn't mean that it isn't out there somewhere. Just hold on and keep your eyes peeled. In the philosophical words of Dorie in Finding Nemo. "just keep swimming.."
  

• God's plans are the best plans. No really...God's plans are the best plans. Let go of your expectations of the situation and the people who control it. Jason Mraz sings a song called "I'm Yours" and for the most part the lyrics are very much from "me" point of view, but like most lyrics (for me anyway) you can come away with parts that really speak to you. the lines I like here are:

I won't hesitate no more, no more

It cannot wait, I'm yours

Well open up your mind and see like me

Open up your plans and damn you're free

Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love

• Play the cards you are a dealt and be grateful. When we feel entitled, we focus on what we are owed, not what we might need to give to others. It is a "one-way street" mind-set. When these feelings are strong and people don't meet our expectations, we often find ourselves bitter, resentful, and angry. Relationships can be (and often are) destroyed by feelings of entitlement. (copied --not my words)

The things realised about the wilderness that even if we can't see each other we are all out there somewhere at sometime, scream really loud and we're there to help.

For me personally... I am realising more each and every day that it is not about me. I need to get out the way --God has bigger plans--plans the are inconceivable to me. The things that seem to have no rhyme or reason (like going into a land of giants) are part of a larger vision. It's not about me being comfortable but about me getting out of the way so others can be comfortable. I'm not entitled to things being a certain way. All the things that cause nightmares for us control freaks. Grace and Peace to you.