I asked my Mama what to post about this Saturday. I had a few ideas but I wanted her opinion. She said to write about what I’ve been going through and learning. So here are some things I’ve been learning this week. This week has been a crazy one. School deadlines looming in the near future, a big fat script I have to memorize for work, shows to perform, colleges to look into…things like that. With all the deadlines coming, it’s been especially hard for me to trust God. It’s easier for me to give him the “Big Things”, like my health and how I’ll pay for college and world peace, because I know those things are way outta my control. But when it comes to the “little things” like a deadline for a paper, I feel like maybe God isn’t going to take care of it. Maybe he doesn’t care all that much. Maybe I have to take care of it myself.
When I go down that path, I start to freak out because there is no way I can take care of all that stuff myself! There’s just not enough time, and I was getting pretty worried but decided to trust God, ask for his help, and focus on the one thing right in front of me. Well. on Thursday night my show got cancelled. Suddenly I had enough time to finish and submit one of those papers. And then I got a notification from my teacher that my Big Huge Scary Paper’s deadline was pushed back two glorious days. Those things never happen. And yet they did.
Also on Thursday night, I was bored and frustrated because I wanted to go do something fun with my friends and they all were busy. So I decided to take a walk, and getting outside, breathing in the fresh air, and listening to the birds sing was exactly what I needed. It started out as a short little walk, but the more I walked the more I enjoyed the time with just Jesus and me and his creation, and it ended up taking longer than I anticipated and being much more rewarding than I thought. Except…well, I may have gotten lost, and walked reeeeally far to get back home, but that’s another blog post about the Lord’s faithfulness in dry, unfamiliar lands. 😉
Lately I’ve been thinking about the refrain from the popular musical “Wicked,” “Happy is what happens when all your dreams come true.” Don’t get me wrong—I love the musical “Wicked” and think it’s amazing. But that refrain bothered me because it’s a theme that’s at the heart of the vast majority of the media I consume on a daily basis. Think about how many movies, TV shows, plays, instagram posts, advertisements, and tweets have the underlying message that you’ll be happy when (and only when) all your dreams come true.
I was lying in bed the other night thinking about this, and I came up with three quick reasons I disagree with this statement. Here we go!
- It assumes you will only be happy when all your dreams come true. What about now? God never promises us tomorrow; he gives us each moment and each moment should be treated as a gift.
- It assumes you will be happy when all your dreams come true. And, ahem, that’s not exactly true. Think of the celebrities, yes, but also think of yourself. I can think of a few things I’ve wanted that I naiively thought would bring me complete happiness. Sure, I was happy for a few hours or days, but sooner or later another desire would pop up, yelling for my attention and whispering it was all I needed to be happy. So the premise, “Happy is what happens when all your dreams come true” isn’t even accurate. So why do we act like it is?
- Happiness is not the main goal. Now I’m gonna be honest here, this point bugs me a little. Because I want to be happy, for corn sake! But God doesn’t promise happiness. That’s not the end goal I see him mention in his Word. You know what I do see? Day after day, the phrase, “So that they may know that I am the LORD,” or a phrase worded closely to that, appears in my Bible reading. The main goal is for people to know that God is God, not for us to be happy. However, God calls us to joy. He wants us to have unshakable freedom, joy, and confidence, knowing who we are in him and who he is.
So….this week I’ve learned (again…who else is thankful we serve a patient God?) that God truly is trustworthy and really does care about me, even (and dare I say “especially?”) in the little things. I’ve learned that happiness is fleeting and not the top goal, and that I can always experience God’s joy because it’s based on his unchanging nature. And as I run with Jesus and “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles,” (Hebrews 12:1) his name will be made known and his joy in my soul will be a biproduct of that.
What have you learned this week? I hope some of my ramblings resonate with your heart, because one of the most beautiful gifts God gives us is runners to run this crazy race with. So today, I want to thank you for reading this—it encourages me. And I want to challenge us all to tell one person who makes an impact in our lives just that—that God uses them to make an impact in our lives. That’ll make God’s name known, and spread some joy. Let’s do this! 🙂
