Things Could Change

My work colleague made me laugh.

We were conversing about how we could do anything. Just not do it well. So anyone really can be a singer – that doesn’t mean they will sing well. Anyone can be a chef, but that doesn’t mean you’re in for a great cuisine experience. Anyone can build a house, but that doesn’t mean it will come to anything worth putting anything in there.

The joke went as far as us saying that we could do anything, all we had to do is to go up to anyone and say, “Just give us a chance.” We imagined the scarily hilarious consequences if someone genuinely allowed us to ‘have a chance’ at being a pilot of a jumbo jet. We would spend so much time taking the massive jet all the way through the runway, then onto the motorway and then further than that. My colleague said that the plane might have started in Heathrow Airport, but we would only get it off the air by the time we reached Luton Airport!

In no way looking to crush people’s feelings, however much we promote a thinking that says ‘You can be whatever you want to be’, that has to be considered carefully. Though there are people who are going out there to pursue their dreams and make them come true, there’s just as much to be said about living with things that could change.

Consider some of the characters in the Bible. They may very well have had their dreams, but then things changed. For every Joseph, David or Moses that might have thought about leadership and attained it, there’s Jeremiah, Esther and Hosea whose life certainly wouldn’t have been something they were dreaming about. Things can change.

This is why it’s helpful to dedicate everything to God. Walk with Him and talk with Him. Share with Him those dreams and desires you have. Likewise get to know more about Him and the desires He has. It might just be that yours and His align. It might be that He wants you to go along with His for a season and in the change see how His plans for your life might even be better than yours, even if that change causes some inconvenience.

Following Jesus wasn’t about a wish fulfilment trip where all your dreams can come true. Following Jesus is about experiencing who you in the light of who He is. It’s not about being able to do anything you like and be anyone – especially if you can’t fly a jumbo jet.

As you journey in life, you might find things could change.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden