My friend Judy set me straight today. I received some bad news and it became the trigger to thrust me toward the Precipice of Deep Frustration. Dictionary.com defines precipice as:
| 1. | a cliff with a vertical, nearly vertical, or overhanging face. |
| 2. | a situation of great peril: on the precipice of war. |
I was at #2. A flood of words started to bubble forth, along with some tears. I started to question my decisions, and I don't mean whether should I have eaten oatmeal for breakfast. I sashayed toward that dunghill of unbelief. I started to doubt God's ability to take care of me, to tend to what concerns me.
Not good.
Funny how when life gets tough, we act so much like the ancient Israelites whom God painstakingly led to the Promised Land. Just like the Israelites, we start longing for the leeks and onions of Egypt when we face the blistering winds of the desert. Today, I was starting to miss my old career routine and the paycheck that came with it-- just because my entrepreneurial groove hit a rough spot. But I have loved the freedom of being on my own and unstopping the wells of my creativity. Life is sweet. So what changed?
I got scared.
And that's why I'm thankful for my straight-shooting buddy Judy. As I can count on her to do, she let me have it as it T-I-S. She prayed for me -- which is all a friend should do when you are talking crazy -- and reminded me of God's purpose and his good intentions toward his children. Always, all the time. She also prayed that I refuse to look backward, that now is not the time to regress, but to advance in the plan God is unfolding for me. She said, don't be like Lot's wife, who loved her past more than she loved God's future for her.
Ouch.
This is what I read this verse in Ecclesiastes this morning before my so-called bad news: Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. I'd better keep moving forward and stop worrying about the wind and clouds. I can hear God's laughter, thunderous, bold, and amazingly tender: I got this.
Judy Howard Ellis
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