July 24, 2015
Transformational Thought
Imagine seeing a beautiful red carpet unrolled in front of an honored star as she excitedly walks forward with pride and jubilant expectation. Her hair perfectly styled, head held high, faultless make up accentuating her beauty, her fanciest dress beautifully accessorized. The red carpet is her defined, honored, special, unique, and precious path to honor only her … and designed for her maximum benefit and enjoyment.
Don’t we all want to walk our own personal red carpet, to have customized attention lead to our successful coronation and moment of triumph? Well, you do have the opportunity to walk your own personal red carpet, if you choose to. You see, the hands of your Lord have designed your future path. He has a path, a plan, a red carpet specifically and specially premeditated and woven just for YOU. It sounds awesome, but there is one catch … even though you know the end point, you don’t get to see more than one single step at a time. God only reveals your red carpet, your life, moment by moment.
The natural me-centered tendency is to look farther ahead, wishing for future moments and neglecting the ones He designed especially for us right now. Unrealistic expectations lead to letdowns, worries, hurts, confusion, frustration, and impatience, which clutter the red carpet path and turn it into a minefield. Instead, we should try to rest in God’s strategically customized loving path, the carpet designed perfectly for us. His path allows us to enjoy each moment to its fullest. When we detour from His red carpet path, He provides the perfect path to get back to the red carpet … if we trust Him and accept His way.
God’s wonder and joy is only accessible to us in the present moment. Instead of gazing into the unknown future, live each moment in the joyful awareness of His presence. Enjoying the now acknowledges that God doesn’t make mistakes, that He really loves you and meets your every need. Attaining this freedom isn’t easy for any of us, because our minds wander to “Future-Gazing” at will.
Today, when you find yourself engaging in “Future-Gazing,” remember that you are truly roaming in a fantasyland filled with potholes of self-destruction, not self-preservation. This will help you return to the present where you will find Him waiting for you. He’s rolling out a red carpet that He designed lovingly, specifically, and especially for you. Where you gaze and the path you follow is your decision, so choose well.
Prayer
Dear Lord and Savior, What a comforting thought it is to know that You are unfolding my life to me exactly as I need it. Teach me, Lord, how to spend more time in the present with You. I know that You hold my future far ahead of me. When I “Future Gaze”, all I am really doing is exercising my imagination, because it’s impossible for me to know and anticipate what my future on Earth will hold for me. Help me walk forward on Your red carpet, never setting foot on anything but the present. I step forward today with confidence. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, who died for the perfect destination of my red carpet – and all God’s children say, AMEN!
The Truth
For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be? Ecclesiastes 8:7
Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save. To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship! They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble. Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ Isaiah 46:3-10
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. Revelation 1:8