Today at church I heard this analogy story:
Once there was a rose. Her parents planted her, watered her and made sure she got plenty of sunlight (as every parent should). She prospered and thrived.
Once there was a rose. Her parents planted her, watered her and made sure she got plenty of sunlight (as every parent should). She prospered and thrived.
Then her aunt came along and told her she made a wonderful daffodil. So the rose started to think I am such a good daffodil, I should keep on acting and being like a daffodil.
People she knew continued to tell her she made a good daffodil. Some even said she was a good daisy, or a good sunflower or a good morning glory. The rose lost track of what God had created her to be and kept on being what others thought that she should be.
The moral of the story is this: don't let people tell you what you should be, be what you know God wants you to be. Center your plans around what God wants. A verse goes, " For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10).God has made us with certain things in mind, seek out His will and follow Him like He said we should when He was on earth,
"Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?"(Matthew 16:24-26)
Life here on earth doesn't matter, we should not forfeit our soul in order to become wealthy or prosperous. No, rather we should follow God, losing our life for His purpose. We should be roses when the world around us tell us to be daffodils.
So think about it: what is God calling you to do in your life? Shine the light of Jesus more? Or maybe be a more faithful friend? Whatever you do, do it for God. Do it to follow God and to be the handiwork that He skillfully created.
Sometimes it’s not even that we aren’t being what God created us to be in order to become “wealthy or prosperous” – sometimes we try to be what others want just so we feel accepted and have a wealth of praise from people. Becoming a rose can be hard because it means discerning who is telling you to become what God created you to be and who is telling you to become something else (with good intentions at heart) but that thing isn’t what God wants you to become. So the hardest part can be figuring out what God wants you to become, how to deal with not being accepted for that, and discerning the well-intentioned advice that, in the end, doesn’t stack up to God’s plan for you… but all this is worth it!
ReplyDeleteJust my random thoughts - good post! =]
Thanks! As my mom says love God and everything else will fall into place.
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