She’d been anticipating this moment since waking up. It was smoothie time. Out came the blender and some other favorite ingredients. She was all set.
A feeling of dread started to creep into her as she grabbed a carton from the fridge. Either she’d gained Samson-like strength overnight or the milk was nearly empty.
She begged silently for a miracle, draining the last few drops from the carton into the blender. Please let it be close to the one cup line. Please let it be close to the one cup line. Please!
Nope. It was barely at the halfway mark, let alone a whole cup. There was not enough.
Intent on having this smoothie, she made a daring choice: to top up the rest with water. Fully aware that water dilutes flavor, she proceeded anyway. She figured that by adding less ice to the mix, it would balance out the flavor.
The finished smoothie looked okay, the texture typical as she raised her cup to taste. Even the initial sip was alright. But the more she drank, the more obvious it was that the smoothie’s flavor was weak.
She watered down the ingredients and in the end, got a watered down smoothie.
Galatians 6:7 tells us “Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.” (NLT)
It’s fun to let our imaginations run wild and free. We fantasize about potential outcomes to great projects and programs. But when it comes to the planning and execution, we stop the brainstorming and settle into what we know. It’s familiar to do routine things with routine hearts. This method has worked before…we’ve always only done it that way in the past… We fill in the blanks in the patterns and templates that someone else has already created for us.
Then we watch it unfold…and results weren’t as dramatic as we hoped. Yet, we knew going in that these methods, while they yield results, aren’t as stellar as they could be. Regardless, the results are accurate based on the quality of work we put in.
Awareness can keep us honest about how we function. Awareness also allows us to make better choices. When we are aware that a fixed process yield a fixed result, we have the opportunity to make necessary changes.
Is God leading us to something bigger and better than what we usually do? If God is leading, then we can trust Him to guide us through new processes.
Don’t let ease weaken the end result.
_________________
Written by Sabrina Jacques-Rowe
Communications Director,
Henderson Highway Church
