Thy Kingdom Come

May 15

Already you have decided
How I will spend my day.
You change my plans
By the demands of
The people in my way.
And by the human experience
Of a world and body in decay.

But

Your limitations are not limiting.
They are liberating signs
From an unlimited God,
Showing me the best use of my time.

By taking away my control,
You show me what I idolize.

So I'll still pen my plans
But with my hands wide open
To the distractions of my day—
Better named "divine appointments"
To see my sin, to trust your will,
To love your people,
Plan A fulfilled.

For thine is the kingdom, the power,
and the glory forever.
Amen.

I love Monday mornings. The start of the week feels full of hope and promise. The sun is out, and the possibilities are endless. I look forward to and tend to define the value of the day by how much I can get done. By 4:30pm, the light is fading, and my expectations are dashed. Nap time is over, and I realize I won’t accomplish what I wanted. It's an hour of the day that I am tempted—almost daily—to be irritable and selfish.

I'm a mom. My plans are ruined every day. And I often set the wrong goals and make the wrong to-do list. God has narrowed my focus through my limitations (closed doors) and through the need around me in my family, church, and community (open doors). I am discontent, entitled, ungrateful, and frustrated when I pound on doors that he has closed.

Nearly every morning, I need to ask myself questions like:

What is the primary role God has given me right now? What is the focus?
How has God limited me physically in time, finances, health, sleep, or geography?
Who has God given me to serve and love? What does my family need? What does my church need?
What do I need to serve well? How can I take care of my soul and body? What systems can I put in place? What discipline should I focus on?

I am inevitably frustrated when I set goals and make to-do lists without considering how God has narrowed my focus through limitations and need. I'm annoyed at the people in my way. They keep messing up my plans to serve God—the irony isn't lost on me here.

So I am learning to lean into my limitations appointed to me by an unlimited God. I am resting in the fact that God is guiding me through the things that go right and the things that go wrong. My God is showing me how to use time through the disruptions of my plans: through the sickness of my children or the urgent needs of my church and community.

The interruptions during each of our days are divine appointments scheduled by God. He will equip us and sustain us in both difficult and easy tasks. Nothing can mess up his plan. He has never broken a promise or failed a resolution. This day is a good work laid out before you and before me—no matter what it holds.

"No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the Lord" (Proverbs 21:30).

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).

Lord, I think I feel a divine draft.
An open door, a closed door
Illuminate my path.
I will not waste my time pounding down a door divinely shut.
For in your constraints is freedom
And in your limits is love.