Settling For Shadows

I stood looking across the yard at my pretty bushes. I have some crimson-leaved shrubs under my windows that get little pink flowers on them in the spring. I have no idea what they are called...I just like'em. As I got closer, though, I could see that the leaves were nearly eaten through by something. What looked pretty and full across the yard was actual just a lacy skeleton of a leaf. This is definitely not how these leaves are supposed to look.

The thought came into my mind, Oh, you were created for so much more than this. It echoed through my head, piercing my heart in the simplicity of the statement. Created for so much more. Created to be beautiful and whole, but the things that eat away at us destroy what we were intended to be.

"The thief comes to steal and destroy,

but I came that you might have life,

life to the full."

John 10:10

I thought about all the reasons we settle for less in our lives...fear, impatience, believing the lie that what we have is the best available. There is a Clint Black song from the 1980's that sums it up..."We tell ourselves that what we have is what we meant to find..." We settle because we don't have the patience to wait on God to deliver His best. We settle for our best, which, I can tell you friends, is nothing compared to what God has.

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind conceived

what God has prepared for those who love Him."

1 Corinthian 2:9

I don't know what God's plan is for you. No one knows the specifics. But I can tell you that His plan for you will allow you to glorify Him, to make His Name known, to allow you to be a witness to His goodness and faithfulness, so that you can proclaim boldly what He has done in your life. If where you are at today is not providing you with opportunities to praise Him, and give Him glory for your life, then that is a pretty good indication that you are settling for less than you were created to be.

"Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness...,

and welcome with meekness

the implanted word that has the power to save your souls."

James 1:21

Shake off the fear that nothing better will come along.

Lose the impatience that makes you manipulate situations.

Live your life in the present in a way that honors God, so that you don't get in the way of your own future.

Don't settle for a shadow of the life God intended you to have.