(This is Caleb climbing the tree in our front yard!)
David and Jacob were both gone one afternoon last weekend, and it was a beautiful day outside. Caleb asked me to go outside with him to play some basketball. Once we were out there Caleb decided it had been a long time since he had climbed a tree. He asked me if I ever climbed trees when I was a little girl. I told him I did. He thought I should climb the tree with him for "old time sakes"! As I stood there asking myself whether I should climb this tree or not...it struck me that my boys are growing up and this may be the last time Caleb ever asks me to climb a tree with him. So, I climbed the tree! (I think my neighbors thought I had lost my mind! I was just hoping that if I got stuck, no one I knew would be working at the fire department that day!) When Caleb got to the top of tree, as high as he could go, he said, "Mom, I can see all the way across the ravine behind our house. I wish I could see farther!" As I watched him climb (from a much lower branch below), I noticed he was trying so hard to see just a little bit more. In that moment I was reminded of a very familiar portion of scripture in Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
All of us would like to see just a little bit more of our future. We would all like to have the perspective God has on our lives. We try so hard to plan for the days to come. We worry, read our horoscopes, and check the stock market a million times a day hoping to catch a glimpse of what is to come. When Caleb looked down at me and said what he did, I had such a desire to know what God has planned for his future. But if I knew, would it be better for him, or worse? If I knew...I wouldn't need faith. If we knew we might try to change it and then what would happen to the plan HE has for us? You see, I am inclined to think that God's plan is so much better than our's would be. I choose to sit on the lower branches of my life and let God take care of what I can't see just yet! I trust...and have faith that whatever He has planned for Caleb, David, Jacob, Memommie, myself, and the rest of my family, is the plan that will prosper us...not harm us. HE is God...I am NOT...and I like the view I have just fine!
Caleb and I spent the rest of the afternoon playing basketball in the driveway, kicking the soccer ball around a little, and just enjoying the sunshine. I will treasure that day for a long time. As I watch God unfold His plan in the lives of my boys I am just so thankful for the small blessings like this day that He allows us to have. When my boys were born I dedicated them back to the Lord...knowing that one day they would try their best to do things on their own, but trusting that the Lord would give them hope and a future that would go far beyond my wildest dreams for them. When moments come that test my faith, like the moments we are having with my Memommie right now, I am drawn to His word that reminds me of His holy perspective and divine agenda of Love. I pray that you will know beyond a shadow of a doubt, no matter what you are going through...that God loves you and He knows what He is doing....GIVING YOU A FUTURE...A FUTURE THAT CANNOT BE SEEN FROM THE BRANCHES OF THE NEAREST TREE! Take comfort in knowing...YOU CAN TRUST THE VIEW FROM THE THRONE!
Posted on
Fri, March 20, 2009
by Crystal Colp