effective living

"Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget my words or swerve from them." - Proverbs 4:5

I am just now beginning to understand the power of being intentional about the things that I do. My life up until now has merely been a string of circumstances, some good, some not so good, but all of which "just happened". Instead of taking responsibility for my actions, I have made a habit of pulling the "God's will"-card whenever I feel like I have lost control of something. And I usually, conveniently "lose control" when things aren't going well. That way, I don't have to take responsibility for my part in the equation of life. I just hand all the power over to God and say "Oh well, Your will be done"--a passive shift of responsibility.

But I think I get it now. God's will isn't so much an inescapable plan for my life as it is an optional source, or blueprint, that I have the choice of tapping into. When I accept his blueprint on which to create my life, the result is nothing short of majestic. An effective and beautiful way of living emerges gloriously like a sunrise in a world of darkness.

"The path of righteousness is like the first gleam of dawn,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
But the way of the wicked is like the deep darkness;
they do not know what makes them stumble." - Proverbs 4:18-19

I have not been righteous. I stumble often. And that isn't an accident. That is what I have chosen. In Proverbs 4:5 Solomon writes, "Get wisdom, get knowledge." If I want wisdom, if I want knowledge, I have to actually to go and get it and not sit around hoping that maybe someday it will just fall in my lap: "Hello, I am wisdom!"

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe describes what happens when we pursue righteousness:

"The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred...unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way."

God's will doesn't "just happen". I have to choose it. The guy next to me has to choose it. Everyone on the planet has to choose it. And when just one person chooses to build their life according to the blueprints of God, beautiful things happen and his glory shines through, piercing the darkness like a new sun, a new day.

I choose righteousness.