Greetings Dear Reader,
Usually this week I would be ramping up my excitement for
the baseball season. I was supposed to
take in a game Tuesday at the local high school. Since the season is delayed if not canceled,
I feel disappointed.
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| Man Proposes, God Disposes |
We are all likely disappointed by something since we see
things moving to further isolation.
Travel plans have to be canceled.
Social gatherings are unwise and not allowed. If we go to get food, we can be disappointed there
as well. Shelves are empty, stores are
closed, and fear scents the air.
There will always be disappointments in life. It is because of our plans, aspirations,
anticipations, and expectations. As I was
pondering this last night, my friend Adam called me. We spoke about this very thing but in a way
that is very liberating if we slow down and consider it.
We spend so much of our energy planning and anticipating
that we forget that these things are tied to time. We live in a world where we plan and
hope. When our plans do not pan out the
way we hope we become disappointed. That
which we have appointed to happen had not and we do not like it.
Where this all goes wrong is in our forgetting that "Homo
proponit, sed Deus disponit" or “man proposes, and God disposes.” (Thomas
à Kempis) We may plan all that we wish
but we must not forget that it is the plans of God that matter. He already sees the entire parade of time and
knows how things will unfold.
Nothing surprises the Father. He already knows every choice we are going to
make. He already sees what we will do before
we consider it. Since the Father absolutely
knows what will happen, he does not expect us to do anything differently. What this means, and it is important, is that
we cannot disappoint God.
I must slow down and consider that we have anthropomorphized
the Father to the point that we have incorrectly assigned him human
faults. It is a fault to place
expectations on someone. When we do this
with God, it limits our ability to see his love for us. It chokes our understanding of the depth and
breadth of that love. It causes in us resentment
based on a lie.
During this time when we have to slow down, perhaps we change
our thinking. Perhaps we can see that
the Father loves us far beyond expectations and appointments. We can retrain our minds to see him as someone
who is not surprised by the events unfolding in our lives and he has already fitted
that into the design to get all things back to good. If I am to follow the Son well, I need to
realize that the Father has everything planned.
He has it all under his control.
He responds to our propositions with dispositions intended to bring us
closer to our understanding of him and the unfathomable nature of his love.
I am trying to learn not to be disappointed. All of MY plans
must be in pencil and I must rejoice when the Father pens in what is to be for
me. In this moment I must seek to hear his love for me in setting the path.
Then instead of disappointed obedience, I can follow the Son in joyous
anticipation of what will unfold. The
best parts are when you walk that path with me, Dear Reader. Let us keep walking more slowly and look at
how deeply this is true.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every
writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a
homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure
store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Contacts for Aramis Thorn:
#aramisthorn
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
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