Contentment is NOT a Crime Tiffany Huff-Strothers
Happy New Year! I believe greatness is on the horizon for 2018, even in the midst of chaos and changes in the world. It’s challenging sometimes to balance embracing the season we are in as we look forward to the one to come. And so, I want to challenge you to start the year with an understanding of the power in active waiting. Yes, active waiting. It’s waiting in purpose. It is the type of waiting demonstrated in actively pursuing, praying, and praising God where you are as you prepare for where He’s taking you. Active waiting puts the power in contentment. When we’re outside of the flow though, when we are misaligned, folk will have us thinking contentment is a crime. If you’re not careful folk will have you believe that trusting in God’s perfect timing is a crime. Timing doesn’t get any better than divine.
Just as those August mornings heated up, so did the story I was telling. As the summer began to come to an end I started my search for an editor and the reality that I was finally going to be an author began to sink in. I expected that if I could write an entire book in a month so too could it be edited in a month. Let’s just say my timing was off. Way off. Then came fall. During the fall, many trees began to shed their leaves and they begin reproducing and spreading seeds. Animals begin to migrate and prepare for hibernation. The seeds lay dormant through winter, the animals sleep throughout the cold season.
The fall season brought with it uneasiness for me. I didn’t understand how things had gone so well during the summer months and now I was seemingly out of rhythm with the spirit. But God. God wanted me to be aware that within the seasons, my rhythm will ebb and flow in Don’t get so caught up in keeping up with cycles. I don’t know about you, but one The Jones’ that you get left behind by of the most challenging parts of being a what’s divine. Contentment is not a crime. woman is the monthly cycle. And if you aren’t keeping up with your cycle, things Seasons, Cycles, & Rhythm can get pretty messy. The hormonal, and Over the past two years, my life began to physical changes it brings impact our change at Godspeed once I surrendered. productivity and often times our peace. These changes started to happen just But God. Without our cycles there’d be no as summer was coming to an end in children, no milk produced to feed them, 2016. During summer the days are no release of necessary toxins from our much longer which for me leads to bodies. Cycles are a necessity for divine more productivity. During the month creation. As the fall approached my leaves of August 2016, I woke every morning had been to shed, and I was in a season and wrote page after page of a book I’d of reproduction. A shift was happening, buried way down deep inside me ten and God was preparing me to allow years ago. I was in awe of what I was myself to rest as He readied my seeds to writing and how quickly I was writing begin budding this spring. The rhythm I it. I’d found my rhythm. Your rhythm had with the Holy spirit hadn’t been lost, is often God’s response to your desire it had changed. He decided to change it for relationship with Him. Rhythm is up. The rhythm had slowed down a bit, the way the spirit moves in and through but He was still Moving in and through you. I woke up early every morning and me. I struggled with the wait though, I after spending some time with God, the struggled to see how the seasons, cycles, words would just flow. and rhythm were working for my good. I struggled to be content without becoming
complacent. The Pursuit of Happiness Here’s the thing, the line between complacency and contentment is a fine one. The three things that separate the two are perspective, position and pursuit. The way you see and think about yourself (your perspective), impacts how you move (your position) and what you do to get to where you’re going (pursuit). If your perspective isn’t aligned with the truth that all things are working for your good (Romans 8:28), because God has a plan for your life (Jeremiah 29:11) then your pursuit might be pursuing the wrong things (Matthew 6:33). See the changes in seasons, cycles, and rhythm is actually an extension of God’s grace. He extends His grace to us to ensure our perspective, position, and pursuits are aligned with the power He’s placed inside us. As we maneuver through the seasons, cycles, and rhythms He extends us grace to allow us to pause in the pursuit. Because when there’s no pause we begin to live for what’s to come. When there’s no pause we miss what’s right now. But when you pause your perspective shifts and you recognize if you want to be in position for His promises to manifest, you have to pursue Him. This pursuit, this active waiting is how you live a life of contentment. The pursuit of happiness is about your willingness to pray, praise, and consistently pursue God’s will for your life in all seasons, in all stages of the cycle and no matter how the Holy Spirit moves in and through you. Complacency manifests when you’re misaligned, when your perspective (Romans 8:28), position (Jeremiah 29:11) and pursuit (Matthew 6:33) aren’t a reflection of His promises.
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11|CIU New Year 2018
