Settled

“Do all things without grumbling…” 
Philippians 2:14 nasb

Oh to be settled…for all the boxes to be unpacked…a place for everything and everything in its place. Oh to have a schedule to do the humdrum daily household chores like laundry, cleaning, cooking, and bill-paying, so that I had real time to creatively write.

“The whole Israelite community left Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which was between Elim and Sinai; they arrived there on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt. Then the whole Israelite community grumbled to Moses and Aaron in the desert. They said to them, ‘It would have been better if the Lord had killed us in the land of Egypt. There we had meat to eat and all the food we wanted. But you have brought us into this desert to starve us to death.’” Exodus 16:1-3 ncv

 

I don’t want to be like the grumbling Israelite community when the Lord through Moses led them out of captivity in Egypt to the promise land, but I do understand their complaints. I want to be grateful and not unappreciative for all the Lord has and is doing for us here in Montana…but I’m tired of living in chaos.

“One day at a time. One box at a time,” my friends tell me via Facebook. “You’ll get through this.”

Yes, indeed, I will.

I know that I will because I’ve gotten through tough times before with the Lord’s strength and guidance. There have been financial needs relieved, health issues released, and interpersonal matters resolved. He has been with me when I’ve been up, down, confident, and afraid. We’ve climbed mountains together and crossed blogs on logs (literally). Nothing is too big, too small, or too complicated for my God.

What does “settled” look like anyway? I’ve studied the pilgrims and pioneers, and there “settled” life didn’t seem so comfortable or stable at times.

Is “settled” really a good place to live?

Well, it is and it isn’t.

Sometimes when I’m too settled, I get stuck in the ruts—old bad habits arise, I stop seeing the new and exciting, and my spiritual growth can become stagnate.

The challenges of moving this year have forced me to trust the Lord more, to walk on the narrow faith path, and to fix my eyes on the One who leads me.

Like the Israelite community, if I stop grumbling and stop resisting the Potter’s hand on my life, it will be a more pleasant journey to the Promised Land.

I hope the remembrance of the Israel’s grumbling will cause you to pause from your own complaints and turn them into remembrances of those times the Lord led you through a wilderness journey.

Well, it’s time to get back to my boxes…