Getting Rid of My Big But

Yes, it's confession time, I have a big But.  It's hard to say when it comes to buts yet here it goes.  In fact I have several Big Buts.  There are times when I make excuses for  not doing something.  I know I need to read the Bible, "but I need to do Farmville, but I don't have time, but I need to Tweet before I forget it, but its boring, but I can't get motivated, but that's somebody else's fault".  The list could go on and you get the idea of how big my but is.  And that's just on one book.

Here a But, there a but, everywhere a but but.

So it is the beginning of the year (or at least its close) and like many New Year's resolutions I am determined to get rid of my Big But.  Ugly as it is, I have to get rid of saying, "But I don't have time today".  Managing time is tough for a Dreamer and realizing that a determined discipline is the only way to take away the big But.

I don't want to get too personal, except what about your Big Buts?   For me I don't have to go to the gym every day or stand in front of a mirror shaking my head.  I now can see my buts when they come flying out of my mouth.

And at the beginning of this blog you though I was going somewhere else.  Or that I had really bad spelling.  this is what a Dreamer thinks about.   Hmmm . . . .

The "Wait " from my Prayers

Have you ever prayed and thought your prayers never made it above the ceiling?  God are you deaf today, are you off helping someone else, or just testing me to see if I am persistent?  

I love the prayers where I get the quick "Yes"  that bring instant  praise to the Father.  I also accept the "No" prayers because He knows what is best for me.  It's the "Wait" responses that drive me up a wall.  Being who I am, it is rough to wait.  Psalms 130:5 -  "I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope" says it best in that I have learned to reach for the Word of the Lord to give me direction during my waiting period.

One area I still struggle with is when is the answer "No" and when is it "Wait"?  

Maybe I am the only one in this arena but when we lead anything or any group or organization, decisions must be made and be decisive.  In college we had experiments with the Yarsini Pestis water maze where we put a rat at the beginning of a "Y" maze.  Food would be on a platform at one end of the "Y" and a shock at the other end.  If the rat got shocked on one end it would retreat and get food on the other side.  We had random rotation of the shock and food so there was no clear cut path.  After about 40 times in completing the maze by the rat, that rat would go to the split of the "Y" and freeze.  For two days it would never take a chance for a food reward because of it's fear of the shock.  Our professor said that the rat would drown before taking a chance to get food.

In our lives many of us never take a chance because of the pain that may be at the other end.   We get to the point of freezing our lives in a comfortable space only to not experiences the riches that the Lord has waiting for us.   So in my waiting for the Lord, I study more and spend more time in prayer.  Yet I refuse to sit at the division of the "Y" and do nothing.  

Do you feel in a frozen state in your life?  In your troubling world and economy, do you hold tight and wait and see what "just happens by"?  Or have you ever thought about talking to the Lord without the need for a Yes, No, or Wait  response?

When you continue seeking the Lord you will see Him giving you blessings and answering requests where you did not even know that there was a request.  I have found that He does a much better job at leading me when I am the follower.  

Some of my big requests are still "Wait" but I realize that He heard me the first time I asked  Him to answer a prayer need and am confident that He will bless beyond my wildest imagination, in His time frame. 

We have to just keep moving forward and looking up, which is hard for many of us because we are afraid of the fall.  Humm. . .  Walk by Faith--- such a concept!