Where In The World Is Your There?

Originally posted 2016-04-21 23:58:41.

Hi!

Do you ever feel unfulfilled; while there are so many new things happening in your life?  Have you ever wondered, “What am I searching for?  What do I need?  Where is this continuous longing coming from?”   Have you ever successfully reached goals that you set?  Yet once you accomplished those goals, you experienced a sense of dissatisfaction?  Why?  What is it that causes an ever rotating cycle of feelings that there has to be more?

Many often say, “When I get to a place in life (or ‘there’)…..I’m going to do this or that.”  Oh, yes we do.  And it didn’t just begin recently.  For some of us; it started in our childhood, the moment we began to think rationally.  Most young children have dreams of what they will do, or who they will be when they grow up.  Teens think about their twenties and thirties.  Young adults aim for ten, fifteen or twenty year goals.  Middle aged adults look to how they will spend retirement.  Retirees plan six month vacations, or funerals.  College professors even teach the fundamentals of setting and reaching goals in business courses.  Goals are everywhere.  I venture to say that “there” ties to goals.  But where is there?  Or where in the world is your there?

What is your there?

Everyone’s “there” is different.   …You may have more than one “there,” or your “there” might be things taken from a list that you’ve grouped together.  Your “there” might be a spouse; or a spouse and a new home.  Someone else’s might be when they buy a new car; earn a college degree and triple their income, simultaneously.  Yet someone else’s “there” might be earning a graduate degree, PhD or MD, coupled with launching a new business.  Is that you?  Have you ever said,  “When I graduate from college; when I get that graduate degree or that PhD; then I will do ……..?  Or are you the one who said, “When I open that business or launch that new ministry project, I’ll be there.”  Yet when you got there, why was the excitement so brief?   Why do you yet yearn for “there” every time you get there?

Getting there has different components.

Your “there” is unique to you, your wants and your desires.  And sometimes your “there” is seasonal.  When I started publishing on “Springing Beyond These Walls” in October, 2015, I took so many pictures of trees, clouds, birds, buildings; just everything.  I was so excited about taking pictures. I even took out my phone on a trip to St. Louis after Christmas, and took pictures of a stranger’s drawings.  But suddenly, I lost interest in taking pictures.  That was just for a season.

Earlier today, in mid April, as I drove past a small pond near my son’s job, I saw a beautiful swan.  I thought about a song that I used to play on the piano, “Swans on the Lake.”  imageThe sight was so lovely.   I stopped the car, took my phone out and tried to capture the beauty of the swan in the water; but it was too far away.  Wow!  I had landed back on my “there” of loving to take pictures.  It wasn’t a brief excitement.  It only refueled my yearn for a portion of my “there.”  In this case it is the love of lakes.

My friend, where is your there?  Perhaps your “there” is a promotion on your job.  Maybe you’re on a mission to repair your credit, make some investments or increase your financial portfolio.  Your “there” just might be a little more personal.  Do you plan to reward yourself with a new designer dress or suit after you lose that 25 pounds?  Or do you tell yourself, “When I gain 15 pounds I’m going to buy me a new pair of pants?  Or  when I save another $7,000, I’m going to buy a fix-it upper or some stock?”  Where in the world is your there; and how important is it to have a “there?”

Your there could be anywhere.  …..Even Incremental destinations.

There is a saying that says, “How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.”  Think about it.  The goal is to devour the entire elephant.  But each bite is a there.  While you journey here on earth, your “there” might just be more than one place or one goal or one space.  Your “there” just might be small incremental things.  Perhaps not seeing progress within the steps Is reason for the ever longing and sense of non fulfillment.   Could it be possible that you are already there?  Perhaps your next destination is just an extension within your there?

Are you “there” and you just haven’t realized it?

I recently responded to a friend’s Facebook post about forgiveness and the intent behind exposing other’s offenses.  Several people from different countries joined the dialogue.  Diverse trains of thought filled the conversation.  Comments contained words of Socrates, interpretations on Scriptures, conversion, wisdom, forgiveness, confession of faults and judging others.  We went back and forth expressing our views; aiming to prove our points.  It’s interesting to see how the thought process of people from other countries differ from yours; yet there are slight similarities.  The on-line discussion was a combination of frustration, intensity, intrigue and fun.  

imageOn the morning after I interacted with the diverse group, The Lord blessed me with an epiphany.  I remembered something God told me years ago through listening to a song.   That is to, “Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”  Then it hit me.  My discussion with my friend’s friends was an element of what I heard The Lord tell me over twenty years ago.  My theologically based responses were a form of teaching persons in other nations.  Many times we think we must physically go to where people are whom God has told us to make disciples of.  But, God has made it available for us to reach people all over the world.

The Spirit of the Lord let me know that God is fulfilling now what he told me years ago on that day when I sat at the dining room table on Webb Street before I surrendered my life to the Lord. On that day, I was drinking Mickey’s; and going back and forth playing two gospel cassettes and a secular cassette.  The highlighted gospel songs were, “I Got My Mind Made Up To Serve The Lord,” by The Mighty Clouds of Joy.  And “Go (Ye Therefore and Teach All Nations),” by Shirley Caesar.  The secular song was “Same Old Lovin,” by Anita Baker.  But the song that I continued to play and what stuck with me was “Go.”  Now, today God is saying that He was calling me to make up my mind to serve Him; and He was giving me the ministry assignment that He had for me before I even said, “Yes Lord.”  But I didn’t realize what He was calling me to until some years later.  He was calling me to go make disciples of all people groups.   …This is the year of manifestation where God is showing me that He has manifested what he told me to do.  He has revealed a part of my “there;” and I’m in it.  Praise God.

My friends, when you stay in the Will of God; when you obey God, it does not matter what you’re going through.  If you keep your “Yes Lord,” you will end up doing what He has called you to do.  There was a time in my life when I was like Jonah in the belly of the big fish.  But God allowed that great big fish of life’s trials and circumstances to spew me out on the grounds where he wants me to talk to His people.

The temporal can’t compare to the eternal.

Whenever the overwhelming feeling of being unfulfilled while God is doing so much comes in, let the question, “Where is your there” remind you of the story of Hannah and Peninnah and what Elkanah said to Hannah when she was saddened by not getting her heart’s desire.  He said in 1 Samuel 1:8 “…..Hannah, why weepest thou?  and why eatest thou not?  and why is thy heart grieved?  am not I better to thee than ten sons?” (KJV)   In other words, he was saying, “Aren’t I enough?”  …..The point?  Where in the world is there?  Being engulfed in the Will and presence of God is our there.  Loving and living a life serving Jesus is “there.”  My greatest “there” is Heaven.

Thank you for joining me on this Thursday evening.  My last question to you is, “Where in the world is your there?”  Join me in conversation.  I’d love to hear from you.  Will talk with you soon.

Blessings!

Rochelle