A missed opportunity?

If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. (Matthew 6:30-33 MSG)

When I am out in the forests and come across a particularly beautiful patch of wildflowers, I find myself just caught up in their splendor. The multitude of color, moving in the gentle breeze, frequented by butterflies and bees alike just sets my mind to celebration mode. Most of those wildflowers would bloom, be utilized by insects and grazers alike, then die off without any human intervention at all. Yet the greatest care had been given to their formation - the care of the 'master gardener' himself! Blooming without one single intervention from human hand, yet so lovely and amazingly unexpected. I wonder what God could do within us if we'd just stop trying to take control over every aspect of our lives and simply allowed him to set to work creating his beauty within?

Fussing over 'things' and 'issues' is part of our human nature and some of us do it to excess! We take one small step and then find ourselves having to remake, rearrange, and revamp all of our efforts time and time again because the effort we put forth to keep all those balls in the air will soon let the balls fall! We cannot 'control' and 'submit' at the same time. Those wildflower seeds didn't plant themselves - they didn't find their own water - they didn't create their own beauty. They were created by the hand of God and allowed God to put the right where they needed to be planted, tending for their EVERY need right where he planted them! Do they worry they will 'miss out' on some of their splendor being displayed? No - they simply bloom.

Too much effort goes into 'making life happen' as we think it should happen - effort best spent enjoying what God is both doing and what he has done. We miss out on the blessings because we are so consumed by the issues. It is like the adage implies - we miss the forest for the trees. We focus on the small stuff that need not concern us, all the while missing the bigger picture God is painting with our lives. Maybe it is time for some of us to stop 'making life happen' and just trust him with the outcome he has planned for us. It can be a scary thing to simply 'let go' and 'let God', but if we stop being preoccupied with all the little stuff that we think we must control, we might just find a new freedom we never knew we were missing out on. Just sayin!