Once upon a time i had a friend ask me what i thought about a guy asking her to wait for him..not can we date long distance but can you literally wait for me so we can date one day when it becomes possible...My first instinct, with all my movie-watching experience, was to go "awwww... how romantic"..You know, like 'Pearl Harbour' except WITHOUT Ben Affleck returning home and finding his girl has moved on with his BFF..(Ouch mehhn)...But then the more i subjected it to reason the less i felt like i was watching a movie.. Yes reality and logic began to creep in on me and i finally began asking questions (to myself of course...after all i have come to realise that self is a good conversationalist)... So what makes people think that they can exercise so much control over someone else’s life.?? Actually to put it bluntly, what makes us so SELFISH that we ask something of someone that we ourselves have so little control over ourselves. I mean take our mr man up there, what if where he went he fell for someone else, totally unexpected and unintentional, what would happen to my friend? how do you tell someone you have asked to wait that you have fallen for someone else..i mean what if Rapunzel or Sleeping Beauty were kept waiting only to find some other chick was heir to the throne. Not such a happy ending anymore now is it? More like a TRAGEDY actually. And lets just say if those ladies had a friend that was anything like me those princes would be HUNTED down and made to do more than kiss a toad... they would have EATEN one.
Well some would say we do it for love...but the more i think about it the less i'm convinced...that, to me, is not love but in fact selfishness at its best. Love is just the thing we want it to be but in actual fact it is not. Love is kind, love is patient, love is not boastful, love is enduring, love is a great many things BUT that.
I once read 'The Alchemist' (brilliant book) by Paulo Cohelo and ever since then I have been thoroughly convinced that despite common belief Love is NOT a destination. At most, it is a pit stop. But unfortunately for most of us if we're asked what percentage of our thoughts is dedicated to a romantic relationship of some sort we would be utterly ashamed to admit a figure we would not be caught dead saying out loud. Even worse, if asked what our most pressing present life's goal is the image that would come to mind would probably resemble something along the lines of a picture perfect image of someone in a tux and another in an amazing white dress looking like a princess. Why?? who knows..
But If life is a journey and we're the drivers then God is SURELY our GPRS (Tom Tom), He is the one that gives us the directions to our destination that is our destiny. Usually unless you are some kind of prophet He gives them to us a little at a time. He doesn’t show us too much so as to get us overwhelmed ... Just a little at a time..Of course, as we go on our way on this journey that is life, we make some fuel stops, some toilet breaks, we even venture to pick people up and give them a lift. Companions, perhaps, to keep us awake when nights become cold and the silence in our solitude becomes noise. Companions to keep us entertained,amused and prevent us from sleeping for some of the way or until the destination depending on their own journey. So imagine, allowing that companion of yours to start pointing out the route and directions you should take. To start drawing up a new route all the while ignoring the one Tom Tom has mapped out for you. 'Shortcuts' to your destination, they say. I mean this companion is literally giving you directions to a destination you don’t even know yourself but all the games and merry songs you have been singing together have left you feeling all mooshy inside and feeling as though you can trust them enough to get you where you need to be. Well, that is just simply ABSURD isn't it. Imagine how many big red ‘wrong way’ messages Tom Tom will have to give you ...relentlessly telling you to go back onto the path you were on. Frantically and faithfully drawing up a new route to get you to where you should be. The route that was the best and shortest way to get to your perfect destination. The one that best suited your needs.
Of course, by now you have ignored enough messages, as loyalty to your new found companion, to realise that you are well and truly lost. That you are completely off course and before you know it your life is headed in a completely different direction to the one that was originally destined for you. You have come the wrong way and you don't even know how to begin going back because quite simply it feels like you have come way too far out to be turning back. Soon, you are frustrated with yourself AND with your passenger who, given the present state of affairs, ceased to be a companion LONGGG AGO. Instead of the laughter, all that is left is a cold detachment and instead of the joyous singalong, the closest you get to amusement is the blame game. I mean, before, in the happy, mooshy 'everything is perfect' moment it was easy to forget about the destination, it was easy to make this person become a destination because of how great they made you feel. it was easy to make the sacrifice until it stopped being enough and you started wanting more for SELF. Something of your own, the true destination you were created for that only tom tom had directions to. By now you are tired and weary and all you want to do is open the door just a little bit and give the passenger a tiny nudge to the side.
Well that in a nutshell is unfortunately the pattern of many of our lives including mine. We allow the ‘passengers' of our lives to take over our journey. To tell us where to go when it isn’t in their place to do so. They don’t know us the way our Father does. They didn’t create us with a purpose so basically all their ‘advice ' and requests, even though well intended, are not going to get us anywhere. Trust that tom tom will get you there.Trust that God will get you there even when the road is bumpy and when you are itching to take a shortcut. All the best things are worth waiting for so learn to be PATIENT. And all the best things in your life are already lined up to happen so stop forcing things and have a little FAITH.
We were born as individuals so we have individual needs, individual goals. There is nothing or nowhere that says those goals should take a sideline or that we have to pick between them and our relationships in life and make a sacrifice. With a little patience and faith we can have BOTH.. So shame on whoever said we can't. I don't know about you but MY God never died on a cross to give me anything short of a fulfilled life.
