I recently came across a quote that is often credited to Thomas Edison. It says that “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
There’s a lot of truth to this. We live in a world where people often look for easy solutions to their problems and challenges. In a world where many individuals expect quick, high levels of service, we often become impatient when things don’t arrive on time, or our lives don’t go on a schedule that we planned out.
Thinking about this, how often do you and I make plans? Even when our ideas seem honorable and God-pleasing, we often run quickly towards the direction that we have determined that we want to go in.
Yet, how often does life turn out differently than what we were expecting? Perhaps, you or a loved one gets a health diagnosis that isn’t wanted. You may have problems with a child – or are unable to have children. Maybe a job or career didn’t go the way you had expected it to go.
The reality is that life is messy – it doesn’t normally go as planned. Or does it? Perhaps not by our plans – but how often do we stop and surrender our plans to God? Do we submit our will to Him? After all, He is the one who created us and gives us purpose – to love and honor Him.
Proverbs 3, verses 5-6, tells us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
Our wills and plans don’t always align with God’s. This has been a discussion that my wife and I have had many times. When we got married, our plan was to have several children. Many years later, God has blessed us with one son and allowed him to be gifted with ADHD. It’s through his struggles and successes that my wife and I are learning compassion and gentleness in ways that we may not have otherwise.
Likewise, I have often dreamed of having a fleet of trucks – since I was a toddler. Now, several decades later, that goal often seems to be an unattainable dream – although I do know that God can still make that happen, if He desires to. It does leave me asking if having trucks was my plan, or was it God’s?
My wife and I have talked many times about God’s plans. Are our goals so important to us that we put them ahead of Him? Neither of us wants our plans to come between us and our Father – and we definitely don’t want to miss out on what He might do in our lives. The reality is that God will always work out His plans – whether we cooperate with Him or not. Do we want to be in the center of God’s will, or does He have to use someone else to fulfill the purpose that was meant for us?
Opportunities are often found in surrender. It’s only when we allow our plans and goals to be molded by God, and not by us, that He can fully use us. The choice is ours. God told Isaiah, in Isaiah 19, concerning the Israelites during their Babylonian captivity, that He was making a way through the wilderness.
What often looks like a missed opportunity may be a blessing in disguise. Would our lives always honor God if our plans worked out how we thought that they should? Perhaps, it’s the Father’s mercy that prevents some of our goals to come to fruition.
When we patiently seek God’s plans, He will always lead us out of our “wilderness.” Let’s draw close to the Father and trust Him for the opportunities that He desires to give us.
Have a great day! 😊
Reflections from the Road 