Illumination

When ever I get in a hurry, am questioning God on His obvious lack of keeping me informed or giving me vision; He gentles brings me back to an incident that occurred about 9 or 10 years ago.

It was a warm, breezy fall evening. Just that time of day as the sun is dimming and twilight is just falling, with deep, lush and long shadows. Danielle (my daughter) and I decided that it was the perfect time for me to ride my bicycle alongside her while she ran. I hadn’t had the bike out in a while, but figured all was well, so I hopped on and we took off together. The plan was for me to take it easy and pace alongside her. Only problem was, I couldn’t keep up. Even taking into consideration that I was definitely not in shape, this didn’t make any logical sense. I was riding in low gear on smooth, level terrain and that ride was totally gruesome for me! Especially considering the fact that I wasn’t about to admit defeat and confess that my 21 year old daughter could outrun me, with me on a bicycle no less!With heart pounding, face blood red, gasping for each breath and I'm sure with elevated blood pressure I forced myself on. After begging Danielle to not run off and leave me (if she wasn’t there who was going to administer CPR for her hard-headed Mom?) we finally and with great relief made it home. I gimped off the bike, so proud I didn't fall, pushed the bike into the garage, and turned on the light only to discover I had made that entire bike trip with two totally flat tires! You can surely imagine just how silly I felt.

Once I had started on that ride I wouldn’t stop. No matter what the consequences, I was bound and determined to finish my task, my chosen path. Had I just turned on the light before the ride, allowed the illumination in, I would have seen that I was not fully equipped to successfully make that journey.

The bible says, “If a man desires to do His will (God's pleasure), he will know (have the needed illumination to recognize, and can tell for himself) whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking from myself and of my own accord and on my own authority.” John 7:17 Amplified Bible (AMP).