Hmmm …
Maybe I’ve been misunderstood. Or maybe you all understand what I’m trying to say better than I do!
My last post was meant to be a casual “Hey, what do you think about coincidences? When do we heed them as more than just chance?” Instead it somehow turned into a specific decision: should we adopt or not. My sister is adopted, so my awareness and affinity for adoption are definitely higher than your typical American, but we’re not even sure we want more children, much less how we want to get them! Maybe I should have offered more than one example. Like this:
A few months before the adoption and underprivileged children theme I was repeatedly struck by how international our neighborhood is. I ran into non-English speaking people nearly everywhere I went. I noticed how our corner convenience store offers more products in Hebrew than English. The closest church to us speaks Korean, but our closest neighbors speak Spanish. Just on our block we have people from Israel, Russia, Ireland, Columbia, India and Serbia. So what do I do with the brow-beating awareness of our area’s international nature? Do I start a cross-cultural ministry? Do I try to learn Russian? Review my Hebrew primaries? Or just plan regular “‘Round the World” evenings at home with internationally-themed dinners and activities?
Maybe my life has “themes” simply to highten my prayer efforts for those causes. Maybe orphans need more prayer the weeks I’m confronted with “coincidental” reminders.
There are so many worthy causes in the world. How do you choose which ones you’ll be actively involved with? Thoughts?
Posted on July 14, 2008, in details. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
I often find the same thing. Often I find the same theme or repeated issue over and over in completely different aspects of my life. I usually interpret is as God trying to get my attention.
I think once you notice it, then you just have to be faithful to see what he wants you to do.
First, I think we shouldn’t dismiss the philosophical depth of your question: What do you think about coincidences? When do we heed them as more than just chance?
This is deep Boethius kind of stuff!
As to your new question. Geez. I don’t know. I think God gives us a lot of freedom to pursue our passions and desires and serve him through our own interests.
My problem is that I’m interested in EVERYTHING! So how do I chose what to say no to?
Marcus, this is exactly my problem! There are so many things I could do and would enjoy doing, but how do I know what I should do? Which activities are the best use of my time and talents? Which best serve God in that moment? I don’t want to sacrifice great things for the sake of doing good things.