Did you ever really stop to think about the nature of man? When I say that, I mean both male and female. We are really quite selfish creatures. By nature we are impatient.  When you see adults these human tendencies are usually fairly subdued. We try our best to behave in public and conceal the fleshly outbreaks.  That’s why I find young children so captivating. They haven’t learned to put up a front yet. Instead you see man in his raw form, both vulnerable and disturbing.

Today I saw the pendulum swing from one extreme to another. I observed a small toddler being poked and prodded by doctors and nurses and an array of medical personnel. The small child was at the mercy of adults he was to trust. Yet the pain of his circumstances caused him to drawl up into a fetal position and cry out for some relief.

Then contrast that with six, seven and almost eight year olds who cheated to find answers to questions ate so fast they choked, and hurried to outdo one another in every endeavor they were presented with.

Philippians 2:21 (NKJV) “For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus.”

Conclusion—no one has to tell us how to be human, we just arrive that way.  We hurt, we cry, we compete, we hurry, we do life the way all humans before us have done life.  Our only hope is a transformation that can only be accomplished by accepting a Savior who has the power to recreate us into His likeness.

I heard this country song today and I think it says it perfectly.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkLq1zwWmec  This is a song of a little boy who wants to be like his Dad.This causes his Dad to walk a higher walk because his son is watching him.

May I encourage you to walk a little higher, others are watching you.  Jesus wanted to be like His Father too. In order for us to be changed into the image of Jesus we are going to have to get to know Him, hang out with Him and read about Him. You and I will find out imitating Him will be a huge challenge for us humans. But remember He was human too.  Sometimes He wanted to recoil from life, He hurt, He was tempted to compete, be dishonest, and selfish. Jesus overcame and so can we. Our Dad really wants what is best for us and with His help we can all be good examples.

Matthew 19:26 (NKJV) “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

There is no use fighting the seasons. We must work with what we have been given. Thirty five years ago yesterday I gave birth to a beautiful little girl. Yesterday I should have been celebrating her birthday. Instead I had a busy day at the office that started at 6:30AM and ended at 3:45PM, caught a friend for a 9 mile bike ride, then a quick bite and then a movie with the hubby.  We planned to go see a certain movie but changed our mind at the last minute. We were both glad we did. The movie we saw was about truth, faith, love, caring, sacrifice and doing what’s right.  The sad thing was we were the only two in the entire theatre.  Out little girl was in heaven and the world was about their plans and God was directing our steps right in the middle of it all. God desires to lead you in the way you should go and is no respector of persons.

My point is this man makes plans but the plans don’t always go as planned.

Proverbs 16:9 (NKJV) “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.” 

Where we were is where we needed to be. It was exactly what we needed to see at that moment.  We needed reminded that God is in control even though life looks as if God has taken a vacation or at the least a few hours off. But at the end of the movie one could see the hand of God had orchestrated events in twelve people’s lives as He alone could have done, including ours. 

Healing comes in when God comes in. Opening our hearts to strangers, our homes to the homeless, our pocketbooks to the needy, are all the beginnings of a journey; that we don’t know where it will lead.  Once we let God in, He walks us through our seasons and we begin to see how He was with us through every Season on our lives. In the winter of death, in the spring of rebuilding and beginning to start again, in the summer of the warmth of His presence and in the fall of learning hard lessons God is with us.

Let God pick out your movies. Allow God to schedule you day. Just try for one day allowing God to have total control.  Memories can make great moments or moments can make great memories.  The choice is ours.  Do we stop and get off life in the winter seasons or do we moan and complain. Let me challenge you to hang in there Spring is coming.