For When You're Feeling Left Behind

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Let's face it, friends. We are all waiting for something. Maybe you're waiting to graduate, get married, have a baby, buy a house, get a job...the possibilities are endless. Maybe you're literally waiting in line as you read this and scroll through the post on your phone. We all know the agony of waiting for something that we long for and want so bad it hurts. But what do we do when that thing doesn't come when or how we want it? What if we've been waiting on it for a long time and there seems to be no hope on the horizon? How do we know when it's time to move on from a dream?

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. - Proverbs 13:12

In middle school, I couldn't wait to be in high school. In high school, I couldn't wait to drive and go to college. In college, I couldn't wait to have a boyfriend. In my early twenties, I still couldn't wait to have a boyfriend. When I *finally* got a boyfriend, I couldn't wait to get married. Now that we're married, I can't wait to have a baby. 

When does it stop?

Comparison isn't just the thief of joy, it's the thief of everything. Keep your eyes on your purposeful path. Celebrate others... Cultivate gratitude over comparison. Gratitude turns what we have into more than enough. - Lara Casey

You know what they say, friends. The grass is always greener on the other side, but someone's got to mow it. Here's what I've learned and what I know to be true: coveting and comparison are a certain death to the heart. There is no joy in wanting your neighbor's story, house, car, job, wardrobe, etc. There is no life in wishing away your day and daydreaming about the "someday" when your life will be made new and your dreams will come true. There is no hope found in placing your entire worth in nominal things. None.

I have spent so much time longing and pining for the next season in pretty much every season  of my life. Where is the joy in that? There isn't any. There can't be any. Because God didn't give us today for the next season or for tomorrow. He gave us today for today's sake. It's a gift to be cherished and there is amazing work being done in, through, and around us, if we look up to see it. 

It is so very easy to look around in whatever stage you find yourself and feel as though you are being left behind. I've been there, and I really do get it. I got my license a few months (maybe it was weeks, but to a sixteen year old it felt like years) late. I didn't kiss a boy until I was twenty-six. I was in six weddings before I was the bride. I. get. it. 

But friends. When we compare our story to our friend's story, we are saying to God that what He has given us just isn't quite enough. It doesn't quite fit the ticket. And that's not aligning our hearts with truth. It's not walking in confidence of His promises. And it's certainly not living surrendered.

Here's my hope. My hope is that we live lives of gratitude and complete surrender, knowing that we can run our race and say thank you every step of the way. Because He's right there with us and He's got amazing plans for us that are so beyond our wildest dreams. It just means we need to get out of the way. And I don't know about you, but I could stand to get out of the way more often than I'd like to admit. May we rest in His grace and know His embrace.