Sittin' In the Corner

I simply love word pictures. Word pictures help me make sense of things, giving me a tangible means to make sense of the world. Last night on my drive home from a weekend of family and refreshment, my dear friend Gary gave me a really great one.

"It's kind of like God is putting me in a corner and saying "Stay here until I'm done!" ".

I can totally relate to that word picture. God knows us through and through. He knows our passions, our dreams and our goals. He gets excited when we get excited about making a difference, pressing on and doing "the next right thing", as my mom puts it so clearly. But, there are times where God says "hoooold your horses child. Your ways aren't my ways, my thoughts aren't your thoughts. Let me do what I do best. Stay here until I'm finished, and DON'T MOVE." It's at that point where we can choose to be obedient, or try to sneak out of our "time out", thinking we can outsmart the omnipresent nature of our heavenly Father.

Here is a portion of Romans 12:3, in the translation of "The Message".

"...Living then, as everyone does, in pure grace, it's important that you do not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing the goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and what He does for us,not by what we are and what we do for Him."

Sometimes, I think it's neccesary that we give ourselves a "time out". I believe firmly that as Christians, we at times can fall into more of the "I do for God" rather then the "God do for me". God doesn't need us, but He chooses to use us to fulfill His plan on this earth. It's almost as if we can at times view ourselves as the main act, and God is merely the opening entertainment. The sad truth is that so many Christians miss out on seeing God move in their lives, because they are so concerned with moving and doing in their own lives. Sometimes I yearn to sit in that corner for awhile. What does a parent usually say to a child who is put in "time out"? Well, I know from personal experience that the typical instructions given to me by my mother was "I want you to use this time to think about what you did." Likewise, God calls us to our own personal corners to think about what He is doing in our lives and the lives of so many others, drawing us away from ourselves and closer to Him. And, when the timer dings to tell us our "time out" is done, we can be confident that our time spent in our own little corner was time truly well spent.