Hey everybody. First day of November. I just can’t believe it. Well anyways, @pastortim1 is a great guy with a great heart. He’s been an awesome friend here on twitter who always makes me think. We need more of those type of people on twitter.
Adam
When I was a kid we had several fresh water aquariums in our home. Angel fish, Tetras, Catfish, Algae Eaters and more filled the tanks, marking their days swimming from one end of the tank to another. I even remember the distinct smell of the flaked food I would pinch between my fingers rubbing them carefully together to get the pieces just the right size for the little fish to consume.
Lately I’ve been feeling like one of those fish. I swim freely in my own little world, one carefully crafted to meet my “needs” and enjoy life. I drift up to the surface of the water to pick out a morsel of food and then dive back down to circle around the plastic plant for the millionth time.
As I move around the tank of life I can’t help but feel that there is something more outside the glass walls just beyond my reach. Whether it is intuition or vision, I am sensing there is even more that God wants to do in and through my life, but my vision is blurred and the images are not distinct. Even working in ministry the images of what lies beyond are not always clear. Pressing on to clarity requires exercising the faith God has given and developed within me.
Like a fish in a bowl, I can see a world beyond my own, but it is distorted by the barrier between us. But is this barrier real? This is a question with which I have been wrestling of late. I feel like Daniel as he was waiting for an answer from God for guidance (in Daniel 10). After 21 days the angel appears to him and brings him God’s message. Why the delay? Warfare in the spiritual realm is what the angel tells Daniel.
But is that what I’m facing? Is this a prison of my own design? I am trapped here or simply choosing not to leave? I need clarity. I am getting glimpses of the possibilities beyond the barrier and they are captivating. So I press on, in faith, trying to wait patiently as each new pixel of life comes into focus.
Like the fish we carefully chose and placed in our aquariums, I know God has placed me here for a purpose. My life has not been randomly created by some impersonal undirected force of nature. I am here because God created me and called me to a relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ.
My lack of clarity tells me that realizing this life is just beyond my reach, but is that true?
Determining the answer to that question is driving me to seek God more, to apply faith, and to seek out others who can help me not only get outside of my “fish bowl” but to thrive by God’s grace once I get there.
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Roxanne
