Monday, October 21, 2013

look for toothpicks, not billboards


Recently, I started watching Doctor Who. There was a quote on an episode that I find extremely funny, but also thought provoking.

"Ricky, let me show you something about the human race. You put a mysterious blue box slap-bang in the middle of town, what do they do? Walk past it."

Now, as amusing as that quote is, it's got a point. People can be extremely oblivious to important details. I had seen a show on Tv about how mind tricks work and why they work. In the one example, a man went into store and he talked to a random guy he met. During the conversation the man that was randomly selected was purposely distracted maybe 6 or so times and each time he was distracted the other man would change something about his appearance. He started out with a neck brace, a red shirt, a hat, an eye patch, and a jacket. In the end he had a black shirt, no neck brace, a different hat, the eye patch was moved to the other eye, and no jacket. Sadly, the random guy that was picked to do this didn't even notice. Now what does that say about how oblivious humans can be?

As humans we tend to not notice little things, yet we seek out the big things. But that's not how God works. God doesn't just come down from heaven and say to me "ok, Rachel, here's what I want you to do: you're going to marry this guy, you're going to go to this college for this career and you will never have a struggle ever again." Ha! Wouldn't that be nice? Too bad

As a friend of mine once said, signs from God are like getting toothpicks thrown at you, they may not seem big and important at the time, but later on, when you look down at the toothpicks, they'll spell out what God was trying to show/tell you.

Look for God in the small things that you might normally take for granted. For me, nature is a huge reminder of God's presence. To know that He created everything and that it is all so beautiful.  Have you ever heard the quote "what if you woke up and all you had left was what you remembered to thank God for"? How many of us would be left without anything?

Remember, God doesn't want us seeking out miracles to base our faith on. "Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe."

During a struggle it is easy to be upset with God and to feel like He left you, but looking back on those struggles, we realize that He was there the whole time. Look for the toothpicks! Don't get all down because God doesn't come down to earth and resolve your problem! Look for Him in the little things, He's there, you just have to keep your eyes open!