God's Construction Zone

I just got my second letter of rejection from Arizona State University. The first I received about a year ago for admission into its graduate school. The second, received only yesterday, was for a job opportunity that I was seeking. Rejected by the same institution twice in one year! Ouch!

If you're asking yourself what this picture has to do with anything I just said, just read on...

I have to admit: as the shame and disappointment of being rejected worked its way through my system, I thought to myself "I'm starting to grow decidedly impatient with God." Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever been impatient with God? Have you ever waited so long for God to perform things in your life, only to be disappointed when they didn't happen? Have you ever felt that you've done all the work in preparing for something while God was just sitting on His hands or off chillin' somewhere?

When that happens to me, I often wonder, "When God? When?" But, I'm always reminded that, when it comes to God's timeline, the answer is always "When its time."

God just opened my eyes to something. Although this was a pretty simple observation, I found that it was profound nonetheless. I was going to Walgreen's to get some cough syrup (for this lame cold that I've been having lately) and I passed a new office building site. For the past few months, as I passed the site, I only noticed the concrete foundation and a few beams. I rememembered thinking to myself, "My God! These guys are taking their sweet time!". But this time, as I passed the site, it was nearly complete! I thought to myself "Wow, they really built that office fast!" Then it hit me. They spent several months laying the foundation for the building, versus only one week or so assembling the structure on and around the foundation. The key part to this entire operation was the foundation. Without the proper foundation, no other successful building could take place. Attempting to rush the process without first establishing the foundation only hinders the longevity of the structure.

Foundation comes from the Latin word fundare, which means to "lay the bottom or foundation of something; lay the groundwork for..." The builders knew to take the appropriate time to lay the proper foundation because they wanted to get things done correctly. In that respect, I need to trust that, since I'm apart of God’s grand plan, He is taking the time to lay the proper foundation in my life. That way, everything that He intends to "build" in my life will endure. Once that foundation is built, it's amazing how fast God can build the structure on and around the foundation. For all I know, God may be intending to build a HUGE skyscraper with my life. I don't know about you, but I want to touch the sky! But at the same time, I don't want my skyscraper to come crashing down because it was built too prematurely and without solid groundwork.

I'm reminded of the passage "Delight yourself in God and God will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to Him and God will bring it to pass." Psalm 37:4

I guess you can say that I'm a part of God's construction zone!

- ACL