Leading & Learning

About every 6-8 weeks me and hubby make a “Costco run.” Conviently, there’s a nice store not far from our church so this errand is usually taken care of on a Sunday afternoon. Today was the day. The only difference between this time and the many other trips we’ve made is that today we went to a friend’s home for lunch beforehand, delaying our usual Costco time by a couple hours.

One of the great things about shopping at Costco are the wonderful “sample stands” setup at the end of many of the aisles. They are manned by pleasant senior citizens (almost always) who offer you a tasty sample of one of the products they sell. Children flock to these carts begging for parent’s permission to partake. And I just know there’s a whole group of folks who intentionally skip lunch so they can walk around and scoop up samples!

Today, though, I noticed something more. Sample recipients quickly became “zombies” as they reveled the taste of each bite-sized freebie. They would stop in the middle of the aisle completely unaware of anyone around them who may be waiting. Then if and when they decided to move, their feet would just drag along the ground, barely making any progress.

I’m not exactly sure what was going on. Did someone come through and secretly drop “zombie juice” into each little sample as a halloween prank? Or is it because our precious Broncos didn’t have a game today and folks had nothing else to do?

Whatever the reason, it pretty much droze me nuts.

Have you ever noticed that when God wants you to get something, really “get it”, He continually spells it out in front of you? The last couple of weeks have been that way for me.

It started when I picked back up reading Secrets of the Vine by Wilkinson. Learning about how God “prunes” us is certainly interesting and I became increasingly intrigued by the idea. So, I began looking up verses that were referenced and studying the notes in my application Bible.

Then it started. I became acutely aware of how I was responding to adverse circumstances. Even though nothing joltingly remarkable happened, there was plenty of pain to attract my focus. Now, a couple of really crappy days and a few bad decisions later, I am realizing that God has been doing “His thing” in my life all along!

I am praying that I can truly get it now and do better. And I am encouraged by the words of Paul in Philippians 3:13-14:

…but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

I want to focus on that ONE THING! My heart’s desire is to join author John Piper when he writes:

Lord, let me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I am.

I know God will continue to prune as He sees fit. My only hope is that I can respond by focusing on the prize…