To Find What's Hiding in the Corners

"Real joy isn't always found in the obvious places...instead it hides in corners, waiting to be discovered when we sacrifice our desires for God's desires." ~ T.Davis

If you're like me, you've asked yourself more than a million times, "God, what do you want me to do?" We ask that question when we're making both small and big decisions, we ask that question in trying to find the "main calling" for our lives, and we ask that question most likely a handful of times every day. I think what we're deep-down searching for is a true joy in pleasing the Lord. Most often than not though, we end up finding pieces of joy that are more pleasing to ourselves. Unfortunately, these joys (the kinds that please ourselves) are the easiest ones to find. They're advertised on big lit-up signs. They're bright, colorful, and typically stand out in the open. And they distract us from finding the stuff God is trying to lead us to. The true joy, the type that is embedded in God's desires, are hidden in the corners. They're harder to find. They take a lot of work, sometimes sacrifice, and patience. And honestly, they're uncomfortable and daunting to even consider picking up at first. We either don't seek to find them, or for some of us, after we've found them -- we let our fear or stubbornness pass them up. They're quite frankly not appealing to any fiber of our fleshly-desires.

The past year has moved at a fairly slower pace for us. We've done the basics, took a vacation at the beginning of the year, some field trips, schoolwork, cheerleading and basketball, but as a whole -- life moved slower. It's quite honestly been one of the best years we've had for different reasons -- and I believe I can attribute it to just living life without all the busy distractions and extras we (and so many) can easily get caught up in.

And so it seems with the slowing down I've been able to hear God a bit more and a little more clearly on numerous things...

I think taking it easy has allowed me to really engage in prayer and meditation on God's Word,  reflection on myself and numerous heart-checks, and over-all searching for His voice. Too often than not, we're just too busy with our own priorities and schedules to really hear Him. And that's a shame. In ways it leads us to disobedience even though we have no clue we're being disobedient -- we've just got busy lives to live, right?

I picture one big overly-scheduled calendar, us on one side, and God on the other.

And I've found when I'm too busy doing "my own thing" it's tough knowing what God would rather have me or my family do. And let's face it -- there are many things He'd rather us be doing different times in all brutal honesty.

So not only taking it easy and just breathing has been good for us as a family, but it has allowed me to grow more spiritually in general. Previously, I had a house to worry about selling, moving, my own schoolwork at one point, kids schoolwork, and everything else poured on-top to "worry about" -- leaving little room to really consider God's true desire over our lives. It's easy to consider our fleshly desires -- but it's tougher to gear our attention toward God's desires since they're far from what our flesh's wants look like.

Sometimes friends, just breathing and taking it easy can be a good thing despite what the busy distracting world around us wants us to think. It's as though those around us want to feel guilty if we don't have our kids in every single activity they can be a part of, or when we are actually sitting at the dining table every night for dinner. And so we all too often get caught up in earthly measures and not the eternal -- so much so we become earthly minded without even knowing it.

I've been dwelling on this scripture quite a bit:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." -- Isaiah 55:8-9

I also think of when Jesus foretold his death to His disciples and how Peter responded, pleading for Jesus not to go, and how Jesus responded: "You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, ... You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's."

It's easy to see how impossible it is to be completely in sync with the mind of God then. But we've got to work on getting closer than we are to what He'd have in store for us in general. I mean, Jesus said this to one of His close *disciples.* If His disciples didn't quite have eternal minds -- we're surely downright earthly-minded. But I want to (at least) strive to get closer to having the concerns of God in mind more than simple human concerns. Would you agree? And let's face it -- most of the things we think and do are things that are more earthly-centered, instead of eternal.

I think most of us desire to be living sacrifices unto the Lord. Then again, sometimes I doubt we can really grasp what being a living sacrifice really means -- especially in the times we're living in. We desire to be used by God in any way possible -- truth of the matter is, most of us are all talk and no walk. I think what can draw us closer to these goals is to question most of our motives and actions and ask, "Can this be measured by earthly -or- eternal standards?" What is driving us to do something in particular? Is it something we can defend biblically? Now this is when it all gets fuzzy. Us homeschool parents can be quick to quote scripture to defend homeschooling, education, spending all our time with our kids, you name it. And I believe whole-heartedly God honors our family-driven schedules. We *have* to educate our kids if we homeschool (that's a given) - but what we choose to do outside of schoolwork hours (the required stuff) is when we can ask if it benefits our earthly desires, or God's? I just don't think God's too heartbroken when a family says it's time to give up dance lessons in order to save up for a missions trip. Perhaps I'm wrong on that one -- you tell me. So when we get really, I mean really, serious about living for God is when I think we'll start doing more out-of-the-box stuff that the World, for the most part, doesn't understand. When I think of great men and women of the Bible, they all had something in common - they sacrificed it all for our dear Savior, and they certainly did "out-of-the-box" stuff in the process that very much so separated them from the World. I think this is another way we can examine and see how our lives are measuring up either in an earthly or eternal manner. 

My prayer, as I have a loooooong ways to go, is that God continues to implant more eternally-minded things upon my heart. I've got to be willing to find these things that could be hidden or tucked away in the corners of my heart though. Sometimes that's tough -- sometimes in the process of searching we'll see what appears to be brighter and neater looking stuff to focus on. Unfortunately, these more earthly things happen to be the easiest to find -- typically wide out in the open. They're appealing and pleasing to our eyes. The stuff tucked away in the corners - the stuff God is trying to lead us to are not only harder to find at times, but can also be far from our picture of "ideal;" they may look uncomfortable or tough at first and so we pass them up or don't even seek them out -- and in the end we miss out on God's perfect will over our lives and what He really has in store. 

"Real joy isn't always found in the obvious places...instead it hides in corners, waiting to be discovered when we sacrifice our desires for God's desires." ~ T.D.

What's God been implanting on your heart lately? Have you taken the time from your busy schedule to really hear Him?