It's that time of year around here.  Life seems to be stagnant.  We say we have the blahs or are in the doldrums.  We look forward to spring, when things will be different, but in the meantime,  it is more of the same:  cold, barren, dirty, and nothing seems to change.  We long for adventure, for variety, for diversity - anything to get us out of the stale pit we find ourselves in.  We remember other seasons longingly - the thrill of summer with it's sunny skies and BBQ, the lush green of springtime.  (Funny how we forget the complaints about pollen and excessive heat from this perspective!)

In Numbers chapter 11, God's people were in a similar season.   “They remembered the good things of Egypt and craved them; the fish, the cucumbers, the melons....verse 6  But now our appetites are gone.  All we ever see is this manna!"    Tired of the same old thing every day, they longed for something different, some variety. 

The funny thing is, we humans don't typically choose to have much diversity in our lives.  We go to the same restaurants and order the same things.  We sit in the same pew at church or the same chair in class.  We wear the same clothes over and over - even when we have a closet full of other things.  We find comfort and security in the sameness of things, I suppose.  In routine.  In not dealing with the unexpected.

In fact, we tend to do the same thing when it comes to our relationships, our interactions with other people.  For the most part, our friends are like us.  They look like us, act like us, think like us.   We hang with those who make us feel that security that comes from sameness.  We are comfortable with those whose lives mirror ours as much as possible.

That's not all bad.  The manna was a provision from God, a good thing!  The same every day, but a good thing nonetheless.  Winter is a good thing, too.  A season that has a lot going on behind the scenes in nature that is preparing for the next season of growth.   Our relationships with those who are like us are good as well, we can encourage each other and help each other as we walk through this life together.   

Too much interaction with only those mirror images is not a good thing, however.   As Beth Moore recently tweeted, "Ick.  What a lame way to live."  She's right!  God has created mankind in such enormous variety.   I believe He longs for us to grow and learn and be stretched by one another and be blessed by the diversity of His creation.  Honestly, it can be scary sometimes.  For some of us, the opportunities to come in contact with those of a different race, religion, socio-economic status, culture, educational choice, or those who sin differently than we do are pretty rare.   Some of us have had interactions with those who have points of view that aren't just different from ours but are in opposition to God's as we find in His Word.  That can be really intimidating.  In other cases, we just don't have a perspective to understand the cares and concerns of those so different from our own.

I believe that we are called to get over those fears and get to know folks that aren't like us.  Expand our circles of interaction.  Speaking of circles, the we can have so many opportunities for gospel centered "Three Circles" conversations, sharing Jesus, when we step out of our comfort zones and interact with those that are not so familiar to us.  We are missing out on a whole incredible world of humanity when we close ourselves off, and we are missing our calling to share the gospel and make disciples as well.  We were made for more than this! 

I am challenging myself, and you, to be intentional about having conversations with those who are different from us.    I am making a goal to have at least one interaction a week for the rest of 2018 with someone who is not "like me".  Yes, I will have to seek out the opportunities.  Yes, I'm kind of scared.  But what better way to escape the doldrums than to experience more of God's pinnacle of creation:  people?!?  So, I'm seeking them out, and I'm going to be prepared to listen to them first.  Really listen to their stories, to their experiences, to their hearts.   And I'm going to be ready to share Jesus.

A reminder as tweeted by Beth:

1. We don't have to agree with people to LIKE them.
2. We don't have to agree with people to LEARN from them.
3. We don't have to agree on all things to agree on SOME things.

I'd like to invite you to add some variety to your own life this year.  Let's not be like the little child who never wants to eat anything but chicken nuggets.  Let's be like Phillip in Acts 8, willing to initiate a conversation with the Ethiopian.   Let's sit in a different chair, eat at a different restaurant, and celebrate the potpourri of humanity as we live this adventure!

I don’t know about you, but I love a plan.  It is so comforting to be able to look ahead and have a sense of what is going to happen.  Whether it is a to do list for the day, an outline for hosting a holiday party, a notebook full of lesson plans for the year of school ahead, or a 5/10/20 year list of goals for my life, I find security in having a plan. 

This part of my personality has wrestled with God more often than I would care to admit.  You see, while He definitely has a plan, and His plan is perfect, He rarely, possibly never, gives me the plan ahead of time,  at least not in it’s entirety.  He seems to operate on a “need to know” basis, and each step is shared when He decides the time is right.  So many times I have longed to know the plan, or at least the next thing RIGHT NOW.  Why, oh why, must I wait when that information could bring me so much peace?   

I know that God’s ways are not my ways, and that they are perfect.  Isaiah 55:8&9 says, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD.  And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts”.  In Psalms 18:30 we read, God’s way is perfect.  All the LORD’S promises prove true.  He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.  His Word is true ;therefore, I know that even when I don’t know what is coming next and think that I would be better off if I did, it is I who am wrong. 

God has a long history of relating to His children in this way.  Joseph was given visions of the end game for his life, but God chose to not tell him that first he would endure the betrayal of his brothers, slavery, false accusations, prison, and more.  God had a plan, and Joseph had faith in God.  Over the course of his life that plan was revealed and Joseph saw the goodness of God’s ways. 

Moses was told part of God’s plan as well – he was going to be used to lead God’s people out of slavery.  He didn’t know up front the details of the plagues, that he would part the Red Sea by the power of God, that the people would rebel over and over again, and that it would take 40 years of wandering to enter the promised land – and he would not actually be able to go in himself.   I wonder if Moses would have made different choices if he knew exactly what he was getting into from the beginning.  After all, he was reluctant even with the little bit of the plan he was entrusted with! 

What about Mary, the mother of Jesus?  The angel Gabriel delivered an amazing message to her.  He left out some details that she would experience, however.  Giving birth far away from her family in a filthy stable, running for her life with her little family to Egypt, and what her son would endure for her sake, for the sake of us all.  Would she have said yes if she knew all of that up front? 

My own story isn’t as big in the tapestry of God’s relationship with man.  I’m not a major player.  But I am no stranger to being given a vision for something the Lord is going to do that plays out in entirely different ways than I expected.  When I said “I do” to my husband I had no idea that I had just stepped into a plan that would include heartbreak, rebellion, addiction, betrayal, and more.  I believed God had spoken to my heart about using my husband and myself to minister to the broken.  I had no idea how broken things were going to get.   

Over the last year I have witnessed God breaking many of those chains and revealing more of His plans for our life.  It has been amazing and humbling, wonderful, and sometimes shattering.  As I see it come together, how God is indeed using all of those things that the enemy meant for destruction to bless and to heal. I can’t help but wonder if I would have said “yes” had I known what I would have had to walk through to get to this place.  If I had known the plan.  While I would like to say that I would have, I honestly don’t know.  And while in some areas I see such victory, there are other places that I am having to walk by faith and not by sight. 

Let me be clear, I believe God has a plan for me, just like He had a plan for Joseph, and Moses, and Mary.  And his plans, like his ways, are good and perfect.  He didn’t cause the sin that wreaked such havoc in my life, or in the lives of those historical figures.  He didn’t cause the sin that impacts your life, either.  He does use all of the circumstances we find ourselves in to fit us for the work He has for us.  To make us suitable for His plans.  His good and perfect plans. 

I don’t know where you find yourself today.  Perhaps you thought that God gave you a vision for your life and it doesn’t seem to be happening according to the plan.  Even when there is pain, and loss, and hardship beyond comprehension, I want to remind you that God’s ways are perfect and His plan is good.  Don’t give up!  Let’s keep our faith in Him, even when we can’t see the way.  He’s got a great view of what’s ahead and we can trust him!