Being Open

                While talking to a friend this morning about a family issue, he said, “It is good to be open (to God’s will).”  Maybe it is good, but it can also be daunting, intimidating and even terrifying, especially for me, who is most comfortable having a plan to execute, not a blank canvas of opportunities.

 

That is where my husband and I are on a current issue.  We haven’t been getting the results in a matter where we were so sure that we were in the place that God wanted us.  So sure, that the potential of looking at other alternatives didn’t even cross our mind.

                So sure, that even when other possibilities were mentioned that we didn’t consider them.  Then a series of encounters, over a short period of time caused me to pray about the possibility.  By not opening that door, and being so sure that we are in the “right” place, are we following God’s plan for us?  The question was unnerving and life changing.  When I discussed it with my husband, opening that door seemed like the right thing to consider.

                Nevertheless, isn’t that always the case with being willing to follow God’s plan for us?  As a child of the 70’s, the goal was to get a good education, find a well paying job, marry a good man, buy a house in a good neighborhood. ... Well, you get the idea.

Here my husband and I are in mid-life with all of those things that we thought were important in life.  Evaluating our future and asking if God has something else for us, something very different, is unnerving.  Will He take us to a place that will completely change our lives?  If we choose not to “be open”, will we miss out on the opportunity for something not only good for us, but also for others?   

We have become “open”.  Open to more than having good jobs to pay the bills.  Open to wanting to do His will.  While neither of us is like Peter, enthusiastically jumping out of the boat to walk on water, we have taken the tentative first steps of trusting in God for the next step in our lives. It has been two weeks since we “became open” and the possibility is still daunting, but not terrifying or even intimidating.  It has brought us closer to each other and to our Lord.

That blank canvas that could be our future doesn’t look empty at all.  It looks filled with opportunities.