“Gathering”

Over the past couple of days I have watched my son become attached to some of his stuffed animals. I realized today that my son (Isaiah) would try to gather up ALL of the toys within the area that he could see. As Isaiah would reach for each toy he began to get very frustrated with the fact that his arms got full very quickly and he had no more room for the ones that he still wanted to hold. Isaiah could not pick and choose; he wanted to hold them all! As I have noticed him doing this my thinking went to how amazing it was that Isaiah did not want to leave out any of the toys, it was impressive that he wanted to gather them all up. But, today, something struck me when I watched him become frustrated. How often do we do this in our lives and ministries? We try to gather up more than we should and only end in frustration.

The concept of handling everything seems admirable and is even taught in our culture as the way it is to be and we label it responsibility. How productive can we really be if we are frustrated? How productive can we be if our arms are too full to reach for the details God is calling our attention to? For me, I have been working towards getting things off of my plate in order to make room for the things God is directing my undivided attention to. Not that any of the things I am doing are "bad" but they are overloading me to the point of interfering with other important things. I have seen for a while that God has placed people around me that are capable of doing things that I have always done and that I need to open the door to them to do new things in their life. Not only is it what they are called to but it frees me to do more precisely what I am called to. How interesting that my choice to not overload not only helps me avoid frustration but will also bless another simultaneously.

I love seeing Isaiah gather all of his toys and love each one of them with a big giant hug. However, there will come a day when he will have to choose which ones to hold and which ones to let another hold. The frustration we experience when we are overloaded is not because we are inadequate or irresponsible. Maybe we just need to choose which "toys" to lie down and bless another with and which "toys" to put our undivided attention on. God is specific and strategic, always having the big picture in mind. As each of us focus in, become more specific and precise, it is going to be amazing to see all that God brings together for His Glory! Let's make sure we are hugging the right toys and not walking in frustration.