Building Blocks

Blocks have probably been around since children have been around.  Children, with their wonderful imaginations, build walls and castles and log cabins....

I like what Alan Cohen said in "Wisdom of the Heart" about building blocks:  "A setback is really a setup, and behind every tragedy awaits a gift....When you pray or intend for something to happen don't dictate the form or timing of the results.  Instead, pray for the quality of your experience.... pray for happiness, and the building blocks to that happiness will reveal themselves in the right way and time."

How many times have you been in the process of building a life for yourself, only to have all your efforts come tumbling down?  You carefully planned and laid down the foundation:  financial, physical, mental, emotional.  It might be a lost job, a broken relationship, illness, or a death.   Or sometimes it might be something to wreck just your day like a traffic jam that prevents you from getting to an appointment on time.  

As I thought about Cohen's statement I could feel myself relax.  Yes!  Of course, what I really want in the end is to be happy.  What does it matter if I'm late for the appointment if I don't lose my peace over it.  But what about the things that affect our lives beyond the moment....like a broken relationship or a serious illness or death of a loved one or the loss of your livelihood?  This is where acceptance is an absolute necessity.  And this can only happen when we believe that God works all things for our good.  That is the key building block in any foundation for our lives:  spiritual.  Believing in God and trusting Him enables us to accept the things that feel like tragedies as we open our hearts to receive what God has for us.  When we "dictate" to God what we think will make us happy, we bind God's hands.  Some things aren't meant to be or do not fit into His plan.  It's in humbling ourselves, and accepting His authority in our lives, that we can then receive His Grace.  He really does know what's best for us--even better than we do.

I know I've confessed this before, but I've been in the place where I've found myself crying out to God, "But if I can accept things the way they are then I won't need them to change!"  That's when I wake up and realize how ridiculous--but truthful--I'm being.  After all, it's not so much the way things are as how we feel about them that determines how happy we are.  What is a problem for me could very easily be a blessing for another. Nothing that happens to us is ever wasted.  It can be used as a building block (aka learning experience) to help us grow, to become more of who we are created to be.

Father, sometimes I'm like a child who is distressed to see her blocks topple over. Help me change my focus from wanting things to be a certain way to wanting instead to be pleasing to You, for then I know I'll be happy.

Link to scripture: Romans 8:28

Take action: 40 Meaningful Bible Scriptures on Pleasing God