It was starting to cool off at night as September came to a close and fall was just around the corner. My houseplants that had enjoyed spending the long summer days on the patio needed to come back into the house. After bringing in all the smaller ones that I could carry and placing them here and there on tables throughout the house, it was time to bring in my 3 foot tall Scheleffera (umbrella plant). The plant was in a pot about a foot high and about 18 inches in diameter. The weight of the pot was too much for me to carry alone and the awkwardness of the top heavy plant made it hard to manage without an extra pair of hands.
I asked a friend to help me carry it into the house. The patio was just outside of the back door which had 3 steps leading up to it. The house was small and the kitchen which the back door went out of wasn’t spacious to say the least. To the left of the door was just enough wall space to provide a place for the refrigerator and to the right of the door was a curved shelf unit jutting off the base cabinets that you see on a lot on houses built in the 50’s. The door opened against the cabinet but didn’t quite make a 90 degree passageway.
My friend and I, one on either side, hoisted the plant up between us and sidestepped our way up the concrete stairs and into the doorway. Where, we became stuck! There we were, wedged with a potted plant between us and the umbrella type branches hovering above and touching the top of our heads. At the same moment, we both looked at each other in surprise and then the next wave of thought brought the realization that we were really stuck. We could let go of the large plant and it stayed braced between our bellies. Then it got worse, we became tickled. The pot shook with our laughter and for a few moments we couldn’t stop laughing for long enough to work a way out of the pickle.
Finally, we stopped laughing and with tear stained faces, we shifted a bit here and a bit there until we were able to escape the doorway, with one in and one out so that we could continue maneuvering the plant to its winter location next to the living room window. Afterward we stopped and had a good laugh and had a funny story to share with our friends.
I don’t know about you, but there have been other times in my life that I have moved without a plan or just walked forward willy-nilly letting life happen around me instead of seeking direction or making a plan to live and advance with intention. There have also been times that I have thought that I knew what the plan was, based on what I wanted it to be.
It is sometimes hard not to leap when we see an opportunity, especially if it is an opportunity involving something that we are passionate about or something in which we have an interest. I believe that God has a plan for each of us. I also believe that the first step in every single individual plan is the same. That step is obedience. No matter what knowledge, training, ability or skill is required, if we seek obedience first, God will lead us to the proper path and guide us to obtain the skills required.
I was a former tutor and daycare teacher when a friend told me that he wanted to run for office as a State Representative. I was excited and told him that I would help any way that I could with his campaign. I had no prior experience but figured if I could pass out information door to door for church that I could do the same for a political race. A year and half later, he was elected and he asked me to come work in his Capitol office. I had never had an office job. After I fought him on this for a few weeks, he persuaded me to give it a shot.
Here we are many years later, and I am still in the Capitol. After he term limited, I was hired by another House member and then I was asked to apply for a job in the House Research Department. This is never a path that I would have had the confidence to pursue. But God sent others who saw a potential in me that I didn’t.
Lord, help us to seek you and to be obedient even when it is scary or we don’t understand. Help us to take the first step and then the next trusting You to guide us. We believe that You want what is the very best for us and that we will find happiness in whatever it is that You ask of us. Amen
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in victory through Christ. God uses us to spread his knowledge everywhere like a sweet-smelling perfume. 2nd Corinthians 2:14 (ERV)
Tell them to put their confidence and hope in God, and never forget the wondrous things He has done. They should obey His commandments always. Psalm 78:7 (Voice)