Far too often, I don't listen to what God is telling me. I think I know better, I think I can do better, I am, far too often, too busy to even sit down and listen. There are just way too many things to do, Lord!
But, really, He just wants to talk to me. And He just wants me to listen.
I am like Joseph -- when I see something wrong, I want to fix it. I want to dismiss it properly and move onto the next thing. But that's not what the Lord wants. He wants me in this "mess" that I'm in. Even if things don't seem how I want them to be, He has appointed me the caretaker of this "mess."
Even if my kids are being crazy and no one is listening and I just want to run away, this is the "mess" he gave me. This is my vocation. This is my surrendering to His will. Joseph obviously surrendered so much more. He surrendered and gave into the will of God to be Jesus' earthly father. Heavy, crazy, saint-making stuff right there. The earthly father of Emmanuel.
My little difficult moments seem nothing in comparison to Joseph surrendering to what the angel of the Lord instructs him to do, but it is still important work, this surrender, our surrender. This is still holy work, this raising children in the trenches of life. This is still important, good work to lay down my frustrations, irritations, desires at the foot of the Father and say "Not my will, but Yours."
I pray I take a page out of Joseph's book. That I look to His earthly father who is a beautiful example of surrendering to what the Lord wants, despite what we think is a better decision. I pray that I know how to lay it down, to sit, to listen, to hear the Lord when He instructs me on the way to go.
I pray that I have the humility to look to my heavenly Father in all circumstances and to hear His will.
Jenna Guizar is the wife to an amazing man and mother to three beautiful little girls. You can find out more about her here.
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