I was thinking about a devotional that I had read yesterday; It had went:
Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city.~Proverbs 16:32
Why can’t I lose weight? Why can’t I get in shape? Why can’t I consistently spend time with God? Why can’t I get out of debt? Why can’t I break this bad habit? Maybe it is because of a lack of self-control. Could it be that many, if not most, of our personal problems are caused by a lack of self-control?
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote: “Great is the art of beginning, but greater the art is of ending.”
Somewhere past the starting point a problem exists. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a genie who could help us finish what we start? Or, an angel that would protect us from falling into the snares of the evil one?Or, a guide that would direct us on the straight and narrow path of godly upright behavior? Unfortunately, we don’t have those available to us. But we do possess the inner dynamic of self-control, which is a needed and essential virtue for effective living.
Self-control is one of the best friends we can have. It is one of the best friends we can introduce to our kids. It will enable us to become the persons we want to be and to perform the activities we want to do. We need to cherish this friend always. It is a real lifesaver.
Doesn’t that sound so familiar?
As great as it would be to just get from point A to point C without having to deal with the middle man-Isn’t everything in life a process. We didn’t start off walking but had to learn how to first roll onto our tummies and then from there learn how to crawl and then how to stand before we take off and it seems once we get the walking part down, we never stop to stand still or take the time, but always seems to be in a hurry.
This week, catching up on books to read and review and thankfully praising the fact that an extended family member was getting better, I realized how in the time it took, it was a trial of patience.
It would have been great to have the good news then, it would have been great for other things we have been praying about and somethings we still pray about as many of us do, to have a “resolved ending” but the truth is that His time never works on our time, simply because He already has seen what is to be and is working on His time that is never our time, to bring that which works to His glory not to ours.
Good thing actually.
If it was about us, imagine how not so appreciative we might be of the blessings, but it’s hard too, isn’t it.
There’s the sticky thing…emotions that we have to struggle with and more than anything else, patience that is easy to say, but hard to practice.
We want that nice wrapped up feeling in the end rather than be left with a cliffhanger at times, where we don’t have the answers that we want or the result that we want.
I contemplated the end of the devotional:
But when it comes to effective living we each have the makings of triumph, if we will apply our wills and come under God’s control and pay the price.
So what’s that price?
It’s often something as simple as giving up the desire to be in charge or control-to really let go of the wheel and instead of saying, “Father drive and I will tell Him how I want it to go”, instead sit back and just be still and look out the window during the journey, knowing our Father knows exactly where He is going and what He is doing.
It hurts but that is where character is developed and refined.
It’s difficult but that is where our faith and patience in His time is nurtured and refined.
When we start taking out the “Me”, the “I”, the “but” and just say, I’m not and never in control and just surrender to Him, the doors open as our Father works in His time and way.
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