A couple of days ago I posted the poem I wrote about our family’s mailbox story. I had also written a great blog entry to go along with it. While I was taking the picture of the mailbox I gave my dad one year for the post…I LOST the text of the blog. I cannot even begin to tell you how upset I was. Then I remembered the scripture I ended that text with…
Romans 8:28: And we know all things worked together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.
So, I knew there must be something else I needed to convey in my blog for the original one to be lost in cyberspace forcing me to rewrite this entry.
This is like life, right? We expect things to go a certain way or we finish something important only to not have our expectations met or our project appreciated. How do we feel? Mad(like I was the other night), frustrated(again, like I was the other night) sad, defeated…I could probably go on and on. Now, think about how God feels daily when we, as His children, fail to meet His expectations or finish something in His name. We are sinners. We mess up daily. We want to please God. We want to do what is right, but our sinful nature often derails us. Bumps in the road come and knock us of course. If you read the entire chapter of Romans 8 you will find in verse 5:
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. (Romans 8:5 NIV)
Our minds should be set on the Lord daily. We should have the desire to meet His expectations when it comes to His will for our life.
It says in Psalm 5:3: In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice: in the morning I lay my requests down before you and wait in expectation.
As we ask Him to hear us, are we are to be open and willing to do His will not our own? At times, we try to put our own spin on it without His direction and sometimes He blesses us by catching and correcting for us before we make a mistake. Other times He allows us to fall, get back up and learn from the mistake.
How does this tie to the original mailbox story? Well, it does pretty well. As our Heavenly Father has daily expectations for us as did my earthly father this day. My mom and dad were runners. Growing up I remember them running in races in the area. I come by my running naturally.
In the 9th grade we were out running as a family for the first time. I wanted to quit. My dad used the tactic on me that my mom and dad used when they first started running together. They would encourage each other to “make it to the next mailbox.” That day as we ran around the neighborhood, dad was saying just make it to the next mailbox and I eventually made it home. His expectation was that I finish what I started and make it home without quitting.
As the poem states, this has been a life message for our family. Along with our goals and expectations we will have the disappointments. The unexpected bumps need to spur us on to do better and seek God’s wisdom. We need to strive to follow Him and live up to His expectations for us. This will take daily contact and communication because we are sinners. He wants us to make it to the next mailbox. He wants us to finish strong. He wants to be part of the journey. He want to lead us. So…What is your mailbox today?
thenextmailboxboston 