It is hard for us to comprehend in the middle of the painfully cruel place called incompleteness and discontent, that it is possible this cruel place has been put in our life for a very important reason. Because it is in these cruel and difficult places where we most often reach out for and search for God. How often would we turn to Christ if we were always filled with completion and satisfaction every moment of our lives?
What if our incompleteness was pictured as an empty box holding nothing but great expectations for us. We just know that we will be incredibly happy the rest of our life, if God would just fill our empty boxes with that special person, or special possession, or special giftedness, that could take all of our needs away and make us complete. So, we pray and pray for God to put that gift of completeness in our box. Yet, He remains silent, and leaves our box empty. We sit and wait. But, the box still sits empty,… and life just isn't quite as good as it could be without our box being full.
In fact, we begin to wonder how we can ever live without it full. So, we again pray deeply to God…if He would just fill our incompleteness box …and fill it soon! Rarely does a day go by that we do not think more and more about how very deeply we really need this gift from God. But, God has not chosen to give us the gift we want so deeply,…at least, not at this time. So, we sorrow over the empty box…I know I have. I have held up my empty box, and asked God if He would please give me the gift I desired, but, I found through His silence that His answer was “No.”
I wonder…what if instead of hanging on tightly to our empty box that is such a misery to us because we so long for it to be filled,…what if we offered it up to God, as a gift of great value? We all know that the empty ache inside, whether called lack of contentment, or loneliness, or unfulfilled desires and goals, has the capability of robbing us of joy for the rest of our life,…especially if we continue to cling to it, and nurture it.
We could make the freeing choice to give the empty box back to God, and tell Him that if it is not His will to give us the gift that would make us complete right now, then we are willing to give the empty box to Him,…and let it go. We could tell Him how very much we still do want our heart's desires, but we could ask Him to help us to untie the strings that will free us from your box. We could tell Him we don't want to live in loneliness and longing for what we don't have, but we want to live in rejoicing for what we DO have. We could ask Him to teach us how to be fulfilled, content, and complete in all He HAS given us.
What do you think it would be like for God, to receive such a gift…our empty box, worn from being clutched tightly, wet with our tears, and heavy with our emptiness and incompleteness? If we give our empty box to God in this way, we have given Him a gift of great value. We have given Him our trust that He knows best. We have given Him our faith in His perfect timing. We have given Him our humility, in accepting His answer of "No." We have given Him our love, and the knowledge that we know how much He loves us.
Just maybe He has a different gift He wants to give to us. A gift that needs a different size of box. It could be a gift that we would never have gotten, had we continued to cling so tightly to the box we valued so highly. And, just maybe, when we begin to look up with an open heart,…He will show us a new blessing,…a new joy…the one gift He has been preparing for us from the beginning of time.
Father, we know You see the empty boxes of our deepest longings. We trust today, Lord, that You will help us recognize we do not order our own steps,…You do. Teach us to allow YOU to guide our life and fill our boxes. So, we offer to You, Lord, the sacrifice of our empty boxes, trusting in You to fill them in the way and time that You know best. Lead each of us to Your perfect will in all things. In the name of our constant companion, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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