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Blog
Focus on Vision
Written by Ana Mendoza, representative of Iron Rose Sisters Ministries in Cuba
Let's start with this question: What has God asked me to do?
Our Father does not ask you to do something without giving you the tools, without equipping you to do what He has asked you to do.
We can approach this assignment of the Father in two ways:
1- Being negligent
Postponing the call; delegating responsibility to others; feeling that we are inferior to the rest of the group; it is not my priority; my task is not so important; I want, but I don't have time; I will, but not now.
2- Being diligent
I believe that I must do what is necessary to grow to be edified and to be able to help others. I understand how good this word is for me.
Psalm 37:4
“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Ephesians 6:18
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people..
We were created with a purpose; the Creator expects us to be diligent.
Someone gives you a beautiful bouquet of roses and you put it on the table. You say to yourself, "I don't have a nice vase where I can show this beautiful bouquet." So, you think, "Well, the most important thing is not the vase, but that the roses show off their splendor and perfume."
You set out to look for a container with fresh water to prolong the beauty and perfume of the roses. When you get to the kitchen you take care of preparing food, making some calls, and other tasks of great importance. When the night comes and you go to serve dinner, you see the withered roses, without aroma, without life.
Postponing your heart's desire changed the reality of the roses' purpose, which was to brighten and perfume your home.
Don't let carelessness wither the purpose for which God created you. It does not matter if you are not a beautiful vase. The important thing is the water that will give life to the roses, to the ministry, to the call that God gave you. Enjoy filling your pitcher with fresh water every day, from which you can quench the thirst of the tired and thirsty.
Now, perhaps with more clarity, you can answer the question I asked at the beginning, "What has God asked me to do?" Maybe, like Isaiah answered:
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8)
Finding Our Place in the Puzzle
Puzzles are a great analogy for life. We get all excited when we finally find the place where each unique piece goes. We get frustrated when pieces don’t fit, or when we can’t figure it out. And when we step back to look at the big picture, we realize that each piece of the puzzle has its place and is no more important than another.
I enjoy jigsaw puzzles. They are relaxing to me. They are also a tangible reminder that while I cannot see where each piece of my life fits yet, God sees the big picture and knows that each piece will find its place, in His timing.
Sometimes I have to let a piece go and set it aside. By stepping away and coming back to it later, I can see more clearly where it should go. Oh, the applications and comparisons to many of my life struggles!
Puzzles help me put it all back in perspective because I am trusting that the person who created the puzzle designed each piece to be unique and fit in only one right place.
However, the other day, I started working on a jigsaw puzzle that was so poorly designed that I had to give up on it. A garage sale purchase, I was excited to pull the real wood pieces out of the box. The European outdoor coffeeshop scene was inviting and its vibrant colors would be fun to see come to life as the pieces connected to one another... or not.
As I started to separate the pieces, searching for edge pieces, I noticed that every single piece of the puzzle had the same shape. There were slight variations, minor height differences in the openings where the adjoining piece fit, but essentially, they were all the same. Yes, the colors were different, but with the shapes the same, pieces could interconnect that in no way belonged next to one another. What?! How was I supposed to know what piece goes where?!
Determined to not let this puzzle get the best of me, I started with the edge pieces. Even there, I proceeded with doubts about whether or not the adjoining pieces were in their correct position. If I messed up now, it would create even more problems as I tried to complete the inner sections. This puzzle was far from relaxing...
Okay, I’ll move to the pieces that have writing on them because then I will feel more assured that I have the right pieces in the right place, confirmed by the readable words. Yet, as you can see in the picture, even that presented its challenges.
Frustrated and confused, I put a few pieces together in the wrong way intentionally, snapped the picture you see with this post, and sent it to a few friends, inviting them to a laugh and to commiserate with me. Misery loves company, right? And laughter is the best therapy?
Invigorated by the laughter and commiseration, and also, not being one to give up easily, I tried a few more times to see if I could figure out a system for putting this diabolical puzzle together. Nope. No way. After finally admitting that this puzzle would be nearly impossible to ever put together, I decided it was time to let it go because
1. I didn’t have clear-enough vision to see where each piece fit nor recognize the nuances of color changes between the pieces.
2. I was not familiar enough with the scene depicted to know the section where each piece belonged.
3. While I could’ve forced things to go together in ways that physically fit, it would be completely inaccurate and would not mirror the original design of the puzzle.
Admitting defeat, I packed up the puzzle and put it back in its box. And as I did so, I remembered a few truths about God as they connect to the theme of Finding Our Function.
1. God sees the big picture and knows better than anyone where we each fit in the kingdom and what pieces of our own lives need to fall into place when, in order for us to fulfill our function in the kingdom.
2. God, our Creator, has not designed the puzzle of our lives to frustrate us, nor is He hiding the blueprints of the planned place where we each fit.
3. God’s purpose for our lives is to mirror Him, to be transformed into the image of His Son, in accordance with the fearfully and wonderfully made way He formed each of us in our mother’s womb. When we mirror Him, we can proceed with confidence, knowing our function and the place where we fit.
I pray we can each learn to trust our Creator to fulfill His ultimate design in our lives individually and as unique pieces in the puzzle of the kingdom.
