Wake-Up

We've all overslept at one time or another, it's just a fact of life.  Maybe we forgot to set or check the alarm.  We hit snooze just one more time telling ourselves: "just five more minutes."  We accidentally turned off the alarm instead of hitting snooze.  Maybe we just said: "I'm only gonna close my eyes for fifteen minutes, and that turned out to really be one hour.  We can come up with many excuses, some legitmate and some lame. 

Wake-up calls can be literal or figurative.  They can be an alarm clock, the courtesy call from the front desk at the hotel, someone gently shaking our shoulder, or someone yelling in our ear.  They can also be a diagnosis for a disease, the family member who is in trouble, a news story, bad grade on a test, a call from a friend, that song on the radio.  That still small voice in our heart or mind.  They can be anything or anyone. 

I have had many wake-up calls in my life.  The literal oversleeping or hitting snooze too many times.  People, experiences, scriptures and songs.  I have wrote about some of them in prior blogs.  Sometimes I was fooling myself into destructive thinking, blocking out something that comes back to haunt, trying to fool God (as if that would work) or just plain denial.  We can all think of something. 

My favorite one came recently.  I am a control freak.  I am a fixer.  I want it how I want it when I want it.  I want it in my time.  Sometimes I can control a situation and sometimes I can't.  Sometimes I can come to a conclusion and sometimes it is out of my reach.  Sometimes when I pray I order God around and then get upset when it doesn't happen. 

So many times we want our family and friends to be like us.  If they would just do it my way, life would be so much easier.  If you really think about, you know it's true.  Sometimes it is subtle and sometimes we can be downright blatent.  We can be arrogant thinking our way is the best way.  We can be that way in our human lives and with God.  Or my ultimate favorite I have tried:  I'll just help God along.  Let me tell you something I need to remind myself of.  God does NOT need our help!

I have something I have been praying for for a long time.  It is for a loved one to allow Jesus into their hearts and lives.  It can be so utterly difficult to watch someone you love make the same mistakes over and over again.  To see them walk down the same path, make the same harmful decisions, and continue to fill their lives with things.  The Bible tells us that people and things will wither away and die and that the only lasting thing is Jesus. But when that friend who is all wrong for you encourages you to do something once, and it feels right that time so you do it again and again, and now you have this circle of friends who are all doing it and not getting in trouble so it must be OK, at some point you will get hurt.  It might not be today or tomorrow, but some time in the future it will happen.  People are fallable.  People will turn on you, leave you, betray. 

Maybe it is that thing you have always wanted, a new pair of shoes, the latest fashion, that new status car or job promotion.  Shoes, clothes, and cars all wear out or change with the next season.  Jobs can become more demanding of your time.  You keep filling your cup with things that will run out, need to be replaced or added to to make you happy.  They don't fill your cup, you have to actively keep adding them and replacing them.  They keep you satisfied for a time til the next thing catches your fancy.

Only with God will any of us be complete.  He constantly keeps filling our cup, to overflowing.  He offers us grace, freely, and without reservation.  He unbiddingly give us abundant gifts.  He prepares a place for us.  It is written all over Sacred Scripture.  If we ask and commit our lives to Him, He will provide. 

So, when I see a loved one making those mistakes and try to fix them myself, I set myself up for disappointment and failure.  I can't fix that person.  If I try alone it is all in vain.  They are their own person with their own mind.  It doesn't matter how old they are, they are still gonna make their choices;  good or bad.  All I can do is pray, place it in God's hands, and then not be an Indian giver and take it back.  This is not easy for women.  Whether we are mothers, wives, sisters, cousins, or friends the instinct to protect comes out. 

A very dear friend, who is a believer, told me this.  It is not a triangle between me, the person and God.  It can only be me and God;  that person and God.  I can pray and place that person in God's care, but I cannot make them love God or accept Him.  It is a personal decision. 

My humanness will cause frustration and worry.  That in turn will cause sleepless nights and anxiety and harm my health.  Matthew 11: 28-30 says:  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”   It is right there in black and white to read.  It is a promise from God. 

God has a plan.  He says that in my life verse Jeremiah 29:11.  He knows it, he made it.  He will not let anything go to waste.  He is a gentlman and will not force himself on someone.  They have to come to Him.  He keeps the door open.  He is ready and willing. 

This person I am praying for, I will continue to do so for.  I can't give up, I love them too much.  They may have to hit rock bottom in whatever form that comes.  I can only love them and pray.  I have to be watchful for the little glimmers here and there.  I have to encourage when I see those moments.  I don't have to turn a blind eye to the mistakes, but I need to be loving and gentle when I admonish.  Not an easy task.  I have to let the Light of Christ shine through me.  I will probably not be the person that brings them to Christ because we are two very different people; but I can help along the way.  I received my wake-up call and I have to let them receive theirs.