Seeing vs. Feeling

Oh it's so beautiful outside. The sun is shining so bright. The warmth when I stand in the window feels wonderful. I see my son running around out there enjoying this day. He just came to the window and I opened the door and he says, "it's so warm outside, when you are standing in the sun." I walk outside and feel the heat of the sun for a very brief instant, then I'm cold. It does not feel warm and cozy anymore.

There are so many thoughts running through my mind. First of all, from where I stand, my perspective from inside looking out is very different...it appears to be very warm with the sun beating down so brightly, even the snow is melting away so fast, it surely must be warm. Well, 25 degrees is not my idea of warm. Looks can be deceiving or what's on the outside doesn't always tell the whole story.

Then there is the fact that my son is out there loving the sunshine. He thinks it wonderful, it feels great to him. He is not freezing cold. He is just thrilled to be outside. Why is this so? To me, I have no desire to be cold or to get my feet wet. So, first of all, my own desires make my perspective very different than his. Second, I am cold all the time lately, it's my body, it's just a fact of life, I can be cold when it's 70 degrees sometimes. So because I am not him, I am me, I feel differently, physically, I am different, so that too changes my perspective on "whether the weather is nice or not."

Another difference happens to be preparation. My son is wearning a coat and shoes and dressed (prepared) for being outside. I am not. I walked out with house shoes and no warm clothes or jacket on so because I was not fully prepared for the circumstance at hand, it was not a pleasurable experience for me.

So, why in the world is all of this on my mind right now. I think often times we want something that seems like a good thing, maybe even a GOD-thing. It may be a wonderful dream or a holy desire. It may even seem unselfish to us. And to be honest, only the LORD knows our heart and our motives. He and He alone. We don't see things from HIS perspective, and granted we cannot actually see anything from HIS perspective, that is why we must just trust HIM.

I heard a man speak and read his book and one phrase he uses over and over is "I want what I want when I want it" in referring to sin. If we were to think about that in regards to everything we desire, is it possible that we are not putting on the mind of CHRIST? There is nothing wrong with desires if they are pure, but when we want what we want WHEN WE WANT IT...doesn't that seem to say we are not really trusting GOD or we don't necessarily care about HIS plan or HIS timetable?

I don't know if any of this makes any sense at all, but I'm not a writer, I just share what GOD lays on my heart, and this is my incomplete thoughts for this very moment.

Much of this has a lot to do with the upcoming "Valentine's Day' holiday. I'll try to write more on that this next week because I have so many thoughts each and every day regarding this topic.

I hope and pray that whatever it is you are struggling with today. Whatever it is you want, that you will trust GOD, and completely give those desires up for HIM. I personally believe that the verse that so many love to quote, "Delight thyself in the LORD, and HE will give you the desires of your heart" means something very different than most people. I take that verse to mean that if I delight myself in HIM, then HE will give me my desires in the sense that I will receive HIS desires as my own. I don't think that it means that we'll just get whatever we desire. I've desired many things over the years, even as a Christian, that I daily praise GOD now that HE never gave me. So take heart beloved, the unmet desires and the hopes you have at this moment may very well become the things that you look back on in a week or a year or in ten years and say as the country music song, "Some of GOD's greatest gifts, are unanswered prayers."

Until I sit again and share my thoughts with you,
I pray this moment you will stop and hear what
our Lord and Savior is speaking to you.