“Never forget what Jesus did for you. Never take lightly what it cost Him. And never assume that if it cost Him His very life, that it won't also cost you yours.”
~Rich Mullins

Nov 16, 2013

Bright Lights


A few nights ago, we were out coyote hunting with the boys. Now I know that sentence was just plain scary, but no, nothing bad happened...no crazy adventures...it's safe to keep reading :)

I found out that sitting in the dark combined with having to be excruciatingly silent makes a great recipe for some quality thinking time. Avid hunters must be smart men! But anyways, as I was sitting there mulling over some different things, I became increasingly more and more aware of the blindingly bright arena lights a few houses down from where our coyote-stand was. (Like a deer stand, just no deer)


As we sat there longer, my desire for the cowboys to be done roping and SHUT THE LIGHTS OFF grew stronger. They were completely obliterating any night vision I had and were so overpowering that before I realized it, I was no longer thinking about coyote hunting. My thoughts were completely consumed with "How much longer will these lights be on for?!?"

The seconds and minutes seemed to drag, my eyes burned, and everything else became completely non-important. Down the street under the torturous lights, the cowboys laughed, roped cows, and let the lights shine on...oblivious to the misery they were inflicting. And still I sat there, shifting my head to every conceivable angle to try and find some way to block my eyes from the lights.

Suddenly, they turned off.

And blessed darkness ruled the neighborhood.

For a few blissful moments, I sat there completely content...despite the cold and the rather uncomfortable position I was sitting in. All I cared about was that the horrible, blinding, all-consuming lights were GONE! My eyeballs could relax.

That's when I noticed it......the small porch light on the barn across the alley.


No big deal at first, but as my eyes started to adjust to the darkness, the light became more and more of an annoyance. Pretty soon, I was nearly as distracted by the little porch light as I had been by the blinding arena lights.

That's when it hit me.

How often do we do that in real life? Some big, gigantic, life-changing, all-consuming event takes up every moment of our thought life. Maybe it's something good.....maybe something painful....but all the same, the rest of life gets put on hold as we focus so intently on this one thing. Small annoyances and distractions become non-important in light of the enormity of the situation before us. 

Then it disappears. 

The relationship heals...
The sickness is overcome...
The wicked, harmful person moves away...
The vacation is finished...
The amazing Scriptural revelation starts to diminish....
The wound gets better and the scar fades....

.........and life goes back to normal.

For a few days, weeks perhaps, we're changed. We're more thoughtful, more caring, small annoyances don't bother us as much. We live in the moment, enjoy people more, love harder, laugh more often, are more thoughtful and grateful. 

But then, as we adjust, the little things start to grate on us again. 

The dog still barks...
The sibling still does that irritating habit...
There's still parts of the Bible I don't understand....
The headaches still come...

......and we go back to the same person we were before.

Don't stay the same. Don't go back - go on. Go on and find what He was trying to teach you, where He was trying to send you, and how He was trying to grow you.

When God is gracious enough to give us a life-changing experience, we would be wise to let it actually change our life.

10 comments:

  1. Oh man... so this. So much yes. I got home from an incredible conference a few weeks ago, and I've already felt the sliding of getting back into the daily "grind" and losing the fire that I had whilst hearing the message there. Thanks so much for the reminder, girl. The way you word stuff always hits the nail right on the head. Was very timely. xo

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    1. So glad it blessed you!!! Love when God uses our own experiences to speak to others!! Keep shining :) :) :) ♥ ♥

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  2. Ha - love it. Never knew coyote hunting could be so enlightening -
    -ok, that pun was completely unintentional... honest...
    But excellent point - I notice that exact thing in my life a lot - living from one event to the next, looking forward to the next one until it comes and passes, spending all the in-between time thinking about the event and planning and musing and obsessing - you get the idea.
    Apparently we need to hunt more often. :)

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    1. You hunt plenty often.....apparently YOU need to take US hunting more often!! :) :) Especially if Jess and I get bows. Then we're definitely tagging (HA - no pun intended there, either!) along on your deer hunts :)

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    2. Just ensure Jessie learns that staring at the stars is not the goal ;) Than we could use some extra eye's in December.

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    3. Huh?? Are you referring to something I'm missing?

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    4. Deer season - he's referring to deer season. I guess he wants some amusing company since everybody know I am nowhere near amusing when I am hunting......
      :D

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    5. I got the deer season..archery and all that...just not sure what the stars comment was referring to.

      We'll come and amuse him! And annoy you ;)

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  3. I tell you what the topics of thought in my mind lately have definitely changed me, I just hope and pray it's for the better.

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    1. It will be.

      "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;" Phil 1:6

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