What chair are you sitting in?

A picture came to mind and it looked really amusing. Actually 2 pictures, one is of a person sitting on a chair, the other is of another person also "sitting on a chair" only there is no chair or rather is chair is make believe, a pretend chair

So you tell me who do you think will get tired, the fellow in the first picture or the one in the second picture.

I remember back in high school days, there was this punishment involving the invisible chair. You are expected to sit on a pretend chair and it is assumed to be a chair with arm rest and all do your hand is stretched in front of you in this seat and your only support is the wall you lean your back on, so your thigh is parallel to the floor and your arms also. I can't remember anyone able to survive this punishment for 30 minutes without breaking into a sweat or sometimes tears. Luckily I never had the honor of being in that seat. The first 5minutes often feels like this is really nothing but as the clock ticks, the arms feels heavier, the back hurts, the legs sometime buckle under the sheer weight of the body because it wasn't created to stay like that, we are subject to the law of gravity so hanging in the air just won't work.

What strikes me however is how often that sit is exactly the one I willingly chose to seat very often. I'll tell you how in a minute.

So I've got grand plans of just how I intend to run my life and I've got all the facts and figures in place but I forget a major factor that often takes the back burner when things seem to be going great in my life- God.

He is the singular factor that can make everything line up right. If the plans are in line with His plans for me then I just need to do my bit and he certainly will do His. But I take Him out of the picture and try to run the show all on my own. I try to control factors that are totally out of my reach, I try to fix things I have no business even touching, I try to protect what is not within my range to even understand and try to create what I lack raw materials for.
And I wonder why it all failed, fell apart like a pack of cards or the great Humpty Dumpty that could not be put together again.

I say I trust God but I have my plan B ready. What that really says is I don't trust God to take care of things so I've got to create them myself and so I end up in the pretend chair.

The interesting fact though is that while I am in this pretend chair, FL (God) actually has a chair for me all the while. He pulled it out for me to sit but hey I'm the independent woman here, so I've got to prove a point and let Him know I can get my own seat, fix my own dinner, buy anything I want bla bla bla.... And so I pile myself with a load of things that I cannot take care of living a life that isn't really life.

Why won't I get burnt out?
In trusting God, there's no guarantee you'll get what you want, but there is an absolute guarantee that He'll give you what is best for you.

What I forget (we all sometimes forget ) is I wasn't designed to depend on myself. I was made for God's pleasure so I'm to depend on Him for ALL things. My smile brings a smile on His face. I tire Him with my struggles to fix what He already provided an answer for.

Check this out: ever had a situation where you are taking this little guy out with you and while it is totally adorable that he wants to tie his shoe lace himself you are going to miss the bus and have to wait another hour for the next bus- that's just the way it is when God watches us struggle- you'll get to the destination eventually only latter than He planned since you keep insisting on relying on you and in some cases the trip is canceled all together because you just had to have your way.

So what chair are you sitting in?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.

Have a great week!
HisDarLyn 2011