A Remarkable Question
I was asked a remarkable question by a friend today. It began as many conversations in my past have, "What are your plans for your life?" As she paused, I opened my mouth to answer with my usual spiel about my college plans and how I expected the next few years to go. Before I could answer, she continued with, "What do you want the end result to be?"
I found myself caught off guard by the question I had never been asked before. Like many college students who take a "gap year," I have quite the rehearsed answer to the question, "What are your future plans?"
But my mind was completely blown by this question. What do I want the end result of my life to be?
I painted today. For the first time in a long time. As I did, I found myself asking this question, over and over again. I applied it to my painting, and I applied it to my life.
In case none of you have ever painted before, it's an amazing way to keep your hands busy while your mind ponders thoughts that it often doesn't have the space to. But for someone as inexperienced as I am, a crucial part of the process is painting from a picture. Or...what you want the end result to be.
I thought of many material things that I wished to be said about me after I'm gone, but the more I thought, the more one sentence came to my mind again and again. At the very end of my life, more than anything else, I want to have lived the plan God has for me.
Almost simultaneously with that thought, came a feeling of peace so sweet it astounded me. There is nothing else, nothing that matters in this life, other than fulfilling the plan He has for me. And if I truly believe that this is so, the stress of "What I am going to do with my life?" fades away. If I diligently seek His will, do I really think He won't lead me each and every day? Friends, He's simply waiting for us to surrender our all to Him. "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in Heaven give good things to those who ask of Him." Matthew 7:11 So to those of you like me, stressing about the future, because we want so ardently to follow His plan, but are uncertain of the path to take; surrender your future to the Creator. He has established a plan for you thousands of years ago! Do you think He would go to all that trouble and then, when you are willing to obey His voice, keep it from you? No, He is longing for you to give Him your life. But not only that, you must trust that He will take what you have given Him. With that trust comes peace. "May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13
So surrender, but then sleep peacefully tonight, knowing that "He who has begun a good work in you, will complete it until the day of Jesus christ." Philippians 1:6
I found myself caught off guard by the question I had never been asked before. Like many college students who take a "gap year," I have quite the rehearsed answer to the question, "What are your future plans?"
But my mind was completely blown by this question. What do I want the end result of my life to be?
In case none of you have ever painted before, it's an amazing way to keep your hands busy while your mind ponders thoughts that it often doesn't have the space to. But for someone as inexperienced as I am, a crucial part of the process is painting from a picture. Or...what you want the end result to be.
I thought of many material things that I wished to be said about me after I'm gone, but the more I thought, the more one sentence came to my mind again and again. At the very end of my life, more than anything else, I want to have lived the plan God has for me.
So surrender, but then sleep peacefully tonight, knowing that "He who has begun a good work in you, will complete it until the day of Jesus christ." Philippians 1:6
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