I love Jon Acuff. He always has words of wisdom, encouragement, and humor. I read his blog every day. In this one he tells us how to say no in pursuit of our dreams. I mostly agreed with him.
And then… I look at my husband. I thank God for him every day. He is the answer to so many empty spaces and questions in my life. And I think back to when I met him. He was the chance meeting, the last minute changed schedule. My initial “no” to him was a clear headed decision and I continued to push him away for a whole year. An international dating relationship was not going to be part of my story. An intercultural marriage just wouldn’t work. I couldn’t see it working, the two languages, the two cultures, the completely separate lives as we navigated US immigration. Nope, not me.
You see, Sometimes we avoid situations or relationships or (fill in blank here) because we don’t see them fitting in our story. It’s not exactly aligned with the trajectory we wanted to go and where we wanted to be in the long run. It seems to have nothing to do with our dreams.
We have our plans, planned out with our finite minds scheduling out our minutes to be effective and successful. We edit the script of our lives by the choices we make or don’t make. But- realize this… our stories are much more effective and fantabulous when we don’t force them. Some of the greatest friendships we’ll ever have are formed in places we never planned on being and in events we never put in our day planners. Don’t edit out the extra spaces. Don’t avoid the seemingly random circumstances or invitations. I’m not saying don’t be intentional and don’t make plans. I’m saying don’t schedule out the margins. Don’t say no to last minute changes.
As for me… I finally said, “Maybe” and that was enough room in my tight grip on my story to let God work.
God works miracles in margins. Sometimes He uses us in His miracles.
What happens in our margins molds us and show us slowly who God is making us to be.
