Have you ever felt like you are displaced, lost and not where you want to be in life. Maybe it’s your job and you are not feeling it. Or maybe it’s just that you are not meeting up your expectations in life, and you kind of don’t know how to get there. I used to feel like that a lot and it was frustrating. The feeling of desiring to succeed, yet when I look at where I was, I felt like I had lost way and I was never to get to my dreams.
Ambitious people tend to have high expectations out of themselves and most of the time, before they get to achieve their dreams, they live miserably, feeling like losers yet when people look at their lives they seem to have it held together. No wonder they say, most of the happy people in the world have the least expectations. But you don’t need to lessen your expectations to be happy. It’s healthy to be ambitious and to think big. But we need to take care not to live a miserable life as we try to get there. How do we do that?
Have you ever heard the story of the builder who was about to retire and his demanding boss requested him to build one more last house? The builder; who had dedicated himself fully all his life, felt as if the boss was taking advantage of him. He agreed to build the last house but for once in his life, his heart was not in it. In a hurry trying to finish his career, he did a shoddy job. And as the boss threw a farewell party on his retirement, he handed him the keys to the house he had just build last.
When we feel displaced, we tend to do things just for the sake. You find someone going for work just because he needs a pay check at the end of the month. The feeling of displacement makes one do thing half heartedly. You become unsettled and anxious all the time and you lose the touch of excellence.
When I was thinking about this, I was reminded of David’s story. Refer to 1 Samuel 16, 17 and 18. I was imagining how David used to feel, when he would see his brothers going for war and he would be sent to look after the sheep. I mean, even when the prophet came to anoint one of Jesse’s son, David was not around.
It was so easy for David to feel misplaced. I know within his heart, he had dreams of being a warrior and accompanying his big brothers for war. I imagine their conversations in the evening; his brothers are narrating how terrorizing Goliath had become, and as David would try to recall his events with the sheep, the brothers would rudely interrupt him, wondering what is this boy talking about. We all know how we cut off our small brother’s silly stories. I know I did.
Yet David was dedicated in his task even with the expected feeling of displacement. He wouldn’t leave the sheep alone and try and sneak to the battlefield to watch like I would have done. No, he would dutifully look after the sheep. What encourages me most is seeing how God was still developing his muscles for war while at the pasture land. I mean he fought the bear and the lion. And so when, by accident, he saw Goliath trying to defy the armies of God, the build dimensions of a warrior in him rose and he took the challenge.
I have been a victim of despising my current placement as I try to capture the desired life. But one thing I have come to learn is that my faithfulness in the place I am will eventually fuel my getting to my desired place. God in his own way is able to prepare us for the future with our present. Even when we feel like our present state is like a waste of time. We just need to be faithful.
Most people called by God, still don’t believe all things work for good. ALL THINGS. And when you understand that, you will be faithful in the things that in your natural thinking may not seem to take you to your desired place. Look at Abraham in Genesis 12, God tell him to follow him to a place he will be shown. God doesn’t tell him the place at first. He unfolds Abraham’s journey as he walk in faith and obedience day to day. That’s how God works.
That is our call. Your faith in God should always remind you that he is using your current place to prepare you for your place of honor. People may see as if you are just a shepherd boy, but God is using that to prepare a king, a leader who shepherds a whole nation and a warrior. Just be faithful in the little, you shall be made in charge of much. Don’t miss your opportunity like the old builder.
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