It was a warm Friday afternoon and I was trying to concentrate on my work when I heard a buzzing sound above my head. Not unusual to hear, I looked up to see what kind of bug had invaded my workspace this time. It resembled a wasp and was trying desperately to get outside.
In order to understand the plight of this bug you have to understand the windows. They are big, maybe 6-7 feet across in total and 4 feet high. In the middle there is a glass pane which is probably about 1.5 feet across. On either side of that pane are open windows, double the glass pane in width and the same height. Now these open windows don’t have screens, just a few bars so there is space for birds to fly through if they wanted to.
This poor bug was literally banging its head against the glass window pane as it tried to find a way out. It went up one side and down the other, searching for some crack, some hole to squeeze through. It searched the edges, the corners, around and around it kept going. This went on for quite a while and distracted me from my work. I kept thinking that if the bug would just leave the window pane and retreat back into the room a bit, it would see the big open windows and could fly away freely. But it didn’t and kept going at the glass for some time.
Then it struck me how much like that bug I am and I just had to write down my musings. How many times do I stand looking at a goal, a really good goal in fact,like the bug trying to get outside (it definitely does not belong in the office). But when I try to forward I just hit a wall. I can’t understand it and I’m sure I need to head toward the goals so I try to force my way through. I bang my head against the glass, hoping it will break or I’ll discover some miraculous way through. I look at the glass from all angles trying to figure it out.
And during that whole time God is standing over me, watching and seeing the big picture. He sees the huge open windows on either side of me and tries to tell me He has made a way for me. I can go out anywhere through the huge space on the right or through the space on the left. But I won’t leave my pane of glass long enough to see the opportunities. I refuse to let go, to back up, when that in fact is the only way for me to achieve my goal.
Eventually the wasp-like bug flew away back into the room but he didn’t get the goal he was trying so hard for. God puts goals and dreams and desires in my hearts and he doesn’t necessarily mean for me to give up them. I just have to give up my way of getting there. I have to let go of how I want to do it and listen to God. Maybe then I’ll see the open windows on either side, just waiting for me to fly through them.
