The above picture is courtesy of the internets. It’s amazing what you can find via a search engine.
This picture also represents how I occasionally feel.
Sometimes I get it into my head that God is dangling this carrot out in front of me and if I only try harder then He’ll finally reward me with that strange, orange vegetable.
Replace “carrot” with “marriage.” Or “kids.” Or “job.”
See where this is going?
Am I the only one that sometimes feels like God is holding out on me? That if I could only check more things off my list, get up earlier every day, read my Bible for 3 straight hours, etc., then God will give me what He’s dangling out in front of me?
I often tell myself if I would only get my self together and prepare my heart/mind to be a good wife, then and only then will God bring my man along.
The problem with my thinking is that He isn’t dangling ANYTHING in front of me. He has given me Himself. He has given me redemption through the blood of His Son. And He isn’t holding anything back from me “just because.”
My parents got us a pool when I was younger, back in the day when my sister was still shorter than me. I remember when she and I would go swimming together and she would want me to hold her in the pool. I, being the super cool and funny trickster I am, would say, “okay, just swim to me.”
And as she would I would slowly inch back farther and farther from her, trying to make it seem as if she was never going to reach me.
I may not have been the nicest older sister.
If the story were God as me (which I am NOT…it’s for illustration purposes ONLY…don’t get mad), and me as my sister, God would have reached up on the deck, put me on His hip, and swam around that 24 foot circle of delight, holding me all day long.
God isn’t dangling a carrot for us to chase after. He isn’t swimming away when we’re trying to reach Him. He’s standing in the water with His arms open wide begging for us to trust Him and get in the water.
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
-Matthew 7:11
Nothing we could ever chase after will be as good as God Himself.
So let’s decide together to chase after Jesus, leave the carrot behind, and just jump in the water.
Kayla Smith 