When I was young I learned that I could be or do anything I set my mind to. As I grew older I learned that I actually had to set my mind to something if I wanted to accomplish anything useful. Fortunately I was blessed as a young adult to make a couple of good choices. One of those was to ask Debbie to marry me, and the other was to enlist in the Air Force where I learned a good work ethic. A good work ethic is useful because when you do what you say, people come to respect you at your word. Something that is very important in this community.
As time went by, I also learned that not everything I set my mind to will happen. Sometimes life is out of my control. A few years ago my father passed away, long before I would have preferred, but his heart just stopped. He was 84 years old, and yes he did live a good long life with many accomplishments. In some ways he was very fortunate. He didn’t have to fight cancer, no radiation treatments, no hair falling out, though like me, he didn’t really have much hair.
Some of us or people that we know have had to fight cancer or other life threatening situations and decide to make the best of it. We often don’t know how how much time we have, but we hope and pray that God will give us more. There never seems to be enough time.
One person I am thinking about this evening is a Facebook friend, and he is fighting brain cancer. I have been praying for his healing. He recently told me that he has decided that he now has a mission. In addition to beating the “you know what” out of cancer, he is going to use his time to train young aspiring drummers with the skills he learned as a young man. I think that’s great.
For myself, I have learned long ago that I am not always in control. I also learned that Someone “bigger than me” is in control. Now I don’t have a life threatening illness, but I do still need to have a mission. I have chosen as my mission to rely on God to; hint, cajole, or twist my arm, into doing what He wants me to do.
The Bible says in Jeremiah 29:11 “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.”
Sometimes God has to convince me that His plan is better than mine. Sometimes I don’t see how good His plan really is, but hey, I’m ok with that. It is His plan after all, and He will accomplish it, even if He needs to convince me.
Do you have a mission?
