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Thursday, July 1

The Bigger Picture: Be faithful + wait

“Not all those who wander are lost.”
J.R.R. Tolkien

and I think he wrote this just for me.
right before he wrote The Hobbit.
I can't help it.
I'm such a wanderer.
I'm supposed to be calculating my sales tax right now,

but I wandered onto Maegan's blog at Life Set to Words
and started reading Bigger Picture Blogs
and got all caught up in everyone's stories.
and i love it.

and this line struck me...
A moment where you recognized
the role your faith plays in your every day life.
A moment where you take note
of motherhood and the importance of what you are doing.
A moment that made you stop
and breathe in the bigness of it all.

because I was just talking to my friend Kristi yesterday
about how I feel so stuck in my faith.
and unable to move forward.
and trying to do better,
and feeling more stuck.

and it clicked for me when I read that.
this is the real challenge.
what we do every day is so important
yet it can seem so monotonous and mind-numbing
and insignificant...

but it's not.

and I've been thinking about where I want to go with my art
what is it I really want with this adventure?
and I still can't articulate it.
or even picture it.
partly because I believe that
God's dreams for me are
so much bigger than I could ever
dream or even imagine for myself.

so yes, I want to run after my dreams,
but I also want to leave space
for God to take me where He wants me to go
so that I can receive His blessings.

and I feel like He is saying 2 things:
1.)Be faithful in the small things right now.
Matthew 25:23
'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!

2.)Just wait on me. Relax. Calm down. Stop striving. Just sit down and wait on me.
(Ummm, not so good at this one.)
Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!
Psalm 27:14

so all of this is to say that i love this idea
of finding the bigger picture
of stepping back each week
and taking note
and sharing
and hearing about
what God is doing
and the role of faith in my life every day.

because it's just too easy to forget
the hugeness of what I'm doing
every day with this little human life.

i'm jumping in.
i'd love to jump with you.

7 comments:

  1. Wow, Erin....so needed to start my day with your post. I'm grateful for the bits and pieces of the journey that level me so that I lose some more of the striving. Still on the inside is where I want to park....still and at rest deep down. Thanks for the big gulp in this post:)
    -Jennifer

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  2. I love this Bigger Picture post! I am constantly reminding myself to wait on the Lord - it is a difficult thing to do, even though I know His ways and plans are best. Isaiah 40:31 has been a big help to me when I get ahead of Him. Thanks for sharing this.

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  3. This was so wonderful to read, it flowed so well :) And conveyed such a lovely bigger picture! Thank you so much for linking up with us, and for sharing such an intimate, beautiful process from within.

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  4. yes!! sometimes I miss the little blessings and the richness of everyday moments in the waiting.
    Like I am always looking for what's coming and missing the moment!!!

    Squeezing all the juice out of each moment.

    Thanks for the reminder to be more present!!!

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  5. had to come back and tell you that picture.....
    just want to squeeze him and kiss those cheeks!!

    he's beautiful!!!

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  6. Yes! A resounding yes! This is one of the reasons I wanted to do the Bigger Picture Moments in the first place -- because when you write about the bigger picture, you internalize it. And, for me, the bigger picture is usually about my faith and how God is shaping me. And when we write about these moments, they become stones of a sort -- like the stones they left in the red sea when God parted it -- a reminder of His greatness and goodness.
    So glad you're coming along for the ride. {I wrote about something similar today at my place. I was a day late for the bigger picture moment link up -- darn!}

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  7. Oh, Erin! This -- THIS -- is what the Bigger Picture Moment is all about! I'm SO glad you linked up and even more glad that you had this epiphanic moment in the middle of your faithful wanderings. Beautifully shared.

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