Putting Out Fires

A nice cozy fire in my wood stove.

My Hubby woke me this morning to to tell me he's still sick & ask if he should go to work. I told him I didn't know how he felt & it was up to him. He ended up guzzling some medicine & headed back to bed. I was awake. Once I'm up, that's it. I manged to go downstairs & heat up a half cup of tea from last night. I sat down to read my devotional this morning to find that God was talking to me this morning. The story should have just started out by saying, "Deb, read this, I wrote it just for you." The title was 'Getting Chaos Under Control'.

It almost sounds like an oxymoron to me. Chaos & control are complete opposites. Control is what I seek but cannot maintain.

It's like trying to hold water from a stream with your hands. At first it seems as if your hands are filling with the cool water. You feel how refreshing it is. You decide to take a drink from the captive water you now have in your cupped hands. But as you move your hands towards your mouth, the water is running through the small gaps between your fingers & palms. By the time your hands reach your mouth there is barely a sip of water left. This is how I feel about my life.

I try to get things under my control. I think I've managed to come up with a plan. Wake up. Read devotional. Check Facebook for any news about family of friends. Drink a cup of tea or coffee, depending on the night before. Get the kids breakfast. Exercise. Shower while they start their school work. Eat. Get some chores started. Do School. That's what I plan before lunch. Somewhere between waking up & reading the devotional the plan gets blown. The rest of the day finds itself being drug down a spiral staircase, thumping & bumping down each step.

I live my life from one disruption to the next. It's as if I'm constantly running around with a fire extinguisher putting out little wildfires here & there. Some fires are small enough to just tamp out with your shoe.

When a big blaze erupts, I call in the bucket brigade. It's the moments when your getting guests & they'll be there in an hour & the house is trashed. "Hubby & kids, I need you to help clean & put stuff away! Move, move, move!!!" You start shouting orders & directions. It's as if watching an old movie with the men & women lined up passing buckets down the line to the fire. Only to see the last person throw what they hope is a bucket full of water & ends up being only a few drops.

The moral of my story is this: I am not in control. Big surprise! God is control. He orders everything.

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor." - Ps. 8:3-5

What are stars? Giant balls of burning gases. Or as Jerry Lee Lewis sang, great balls of fire. If God controls where each star is placed in the heavens, is He in control of the little fires in my life? Absolutely. I'm sure that God knows of my desire to be in control of my life plans & gives me fires to put out to show me that it's His plans are better.

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." - Prov. 19:21

"In his heart a man plans his course, But the Lord determines his steps." - Prov. 16:9

God is not out to torment me by popping up fires in my path. He is helping me with my disillusion of control. I have it backwards most of the time. I make my plans then tell God what I'm going to do. I need to ask Him first what I can do to serve Him.

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." - Prov. 16:3

I need to trust that God's plans are so much better than what I could ever compose.

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the Lord,'". - Jer. 29:11-14a

God also gives me fires so that I stop & ask Him for water. He is the keeper of the water & the flames. Did you know that God designed certain pine trees to not drop seeds unless the cones are superheated by a fire? A new Jack Pine tree cannot be started without a forest fire. Fires are also started on purpose to get rid of undesired plants so that new fresh plants can grow? It's called controlled burning. Sounds like what God does in ours lives.

Hubby staying home today was not part of my plans. Apparently God knows that I need to give Hubby some extra love & attention. Laundry can wait until tomorrow.