Personal reflections (part 3)

A little while ago, I began a multiple blog set where I began articulating some of the things that I would say to a younger version of Kevin Bauer, if I had the chance.  Initially, I chose to do this because my birthday is coming up.  However, recent events have made me cherish life, contemplate death, and consider afresh the importance of legacy.

Let me get right to it.  The next thing I would convey to my young self is this: “Kevin, trust in God’s plan for your life.  The path He has planned for you may not necessarily be the easy way, but it is the best way.  Submit to it.”

While I was preparing this blog I had a rather bizarre thought.  Actually, my pastor at church recently said a version of this, and I’m slightly tweaking it here.  But suppose God chose to appear to me at age 16 and say, “Kevin, you are old enough to understand the magnitude of what I’m about to offer you.  I want you to write out on a piece of paper how you want your life to play out.  Give Me all the specifics and I will make sure that it happens just as you compose it.”

God obviously hasn’t made any of us such an offer, nor will He.  After all, He’s not our personal genie in a bottle.  But just for the sake of the illustration, I can assure you if God did present me with this invitation, I would have written out a life for myself that is very different than what I actually live.  I’m not trying to get you to feel sorry for me.  The fact of the matter is, I have a good life.  God has blessed me in so many ways.   And yet if someone were to suggest that my life has gone exactly how I would have envisioned it in my earlier years, they would be wrong. Even so, I choose to trust in God’s plan.

I have to confess that it feels really strange to write a blog and not have my cat, Belle, lying right next to my computer screen as I do.  She just wanted to be close to me.  I often had this thought: did Belle have any idea why I was looking so intently at a screen, and typing?  No, as far as she was concerned, I was just making a strange noise with my fingers as they tapped the keyboard.  Furthermore, if I were to have stopped and explained to her what I was doing she wouldn’t have comprehended anything I was saying.  This is a picture of how it is with God.  The Bible tells us that God is in control, but we certainly don't understand why He permits the things that He does.  We look up and ask Him, “What are you doing, God?”  And He says, “If I explained it to you, you wouldn’t get it.  Just trust Me.”

I admit that I am tempted to question God's plan at times.  I'm tempted to lean on my own limited human understanding.  Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”  I love this verse because we all have a tendency to lean on our own understanding, but God wants us to trust in Him and His plan, not our finite comprehension.  I firmly believe that His plan for my life is infinitely better than anything I could ever dream up for myself.

Kevin