One of the new things I am experiencing here at Cedar Springs is the winter road conditions. If you have been here you know that we have two lanes that come into the camp. The main entrance (I call it the south entrance) is about 3/4 of a mile with open fields on either side. The north entrance that comes in to the managers house is better protected, but still exposed to the southern winds. So I am rediscovering the hassle of country living and snow drifting across your road.
When I was in school I loved the winter wind because it usually closed the county road that lead to our house and we would not have school. But now that I need to keep the road clear I have a different perspective. Our current method of snow removal is a Farmall 560 (open cab) tractor with a blower mounted off of the PTO. Usually its not too bad of work. I like the feeling of power as I cut through the deep drifts across the road. ( I feel like Tim "the tool-man" Taylor!) But the days when the wind is blowing and the air is biting cold aren't so much fun.
We have experienced some wind the past day or so, and combined with the light snow falls over the past week or so I was expecting some real drifting. I came home from Mason City yesterday, the air temp was about 5 degrees and the wind was blowing about 25 miles an hour. I noticed the snow, blowing over the piles the county maintainer had pushed up on the edges of the gravel road. It was so light and pretty, glistening in the afternoon sun. It sure didn't seem like much of a threat. Being a photographer at heart I was plotting ways to capture the scene on film. In that sliver of time the wind and snow were not a threat to me, or anyone else passing along that road. But that's the thing about the winter wind. She is steady and persistent, working relentlessly for hours, and even days, burying the road with hard-packed snow. It takes a lot of time, even with a lot of wind, but mother nature doesn't give up-she is persistent, knowing that eventually the road will be closed.
That was a valuable lesson for me-a lesson I had learned before, but like most hard-headed human beings, it takes a number of times covering the same lesson before we get it. You see, I came here with great expectation and excitement. (And it has not subsided) And after a couple months I find myself falling behind in my strategic goals. I get frustrated because things are not falling into place as quickly as I had hoped. Does that ever happen to you? I told myself before I arrived at Cedar Springs not to expect too much too quickly, but I just can't help it.
Our problem is we are an compulsive generation looking for instant gratification-wanting everything handed to us immediately. Sometimes the world doesn't work that way and most certainly, God does not work that way! He is as constant as the northern star. We does His work in us and through us slowly and deliberately as the winter wind. (We couldn't handle it any other way!)
And as I watched that snow, blowing steadily across the road, it reminded me that that is how He is working through me here at Cedar Springs. My big plans are aggressive, but they will have to unfold as He sees fit. As an example I had this great idea for a theme oriented camp but I need help from experts in the field to pull it off. Try as I may, I have been unsuccessful at making the proper connections. God seems to be saying the time isn't right. I need to learn to accept that.
So what about you? What situation in your life isn't going the way you had hoped. Is it possible that you are not in God's will? Is it possible that He is attempting to teach you something about waiting on Him? (James 4:13-17)
Some times our plans do not succeed due to errors we have made-perhaps we have not been diligent enough in pursuing that job, or detailed enough to win that contract, or timely enough to land that new client. If that is the case we must work harder at doing the best that we can (1 Cor. 10:31; Col. 3:17). But remember this, at other times our frustration is not due to incompetence but zeal for our own will to be done, and not the Father's will.
Next time you feel like this step back and allow God to work in you, steady and constant, like the winter wind.
No comments:
Post a Comment