Country Music, Lessons Learned, and What's Next

For those of you who know me, I am a fan of country music. I tend to find myself listening to "classic" artists like George Strait, George Jones, or Roger Miller. But, I also like more of the contemporary artists like Dierks Bentley and Brad Paisley. Lately, I have been listening to a new group called Lady Antebellum. One song I have particularly enjoyed has been "I Run to You", which is, consequently, their newest single. They will perform it on Conan O'Brien's show this week (now I feel like a groupie, so I'm going to get to the point). What does this all mean? How does a song help with lessons learned? I'm glad you asked, Reader. Stay with me, it will get clear, hopefully, soon.

I run my life,

Or is it running me, Run from my past

I run too fast, Or too slow it seems

Remember my last post where I talked about my trip to the monastery? I think I also said that I would blog more, and we all know that didn't happen. I apologize. Anyway, as I left there, I began to feel like I needed to move in a more "forward" direction. So, I began to ask God about career choices, church choices, and just choices in general. It landed me in a place of uncertainty. So, I got discouraged when I wasn't hearing "answers". As Hybels states in his book Too Busy Not to Pray, he discussed that God answers prayer in three distinct ways: Yes, No, and Grow. As I have sought counsel and reflected personally, I find myself in a great place of waiting. Waiting for a plethora of things. I love reading in John's letters when he calls the believers, "little children." I love it when Jesus address the little children and says that we need to become like little children in Matthew 18:3. Yet as a little child, I tend to get hurried and want to run ahead and lose sight of the guidance that God gives (see Psalm 32:8, 9).

So this course is one I've been enrolled in for a LONG time--Waiting 101. As the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 46:10, "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" (ESV) I am currently learning that waiting, as a believer, is not a passive process. Those who I consider much wiser than I am have done a great job of being honest with me about what it means to wait, and they have encouraged me to not live with misdirected zeal, to not live always expecting God in the big things. Rather, I've been counseled to wait and listen, to desire intimacy with God and others.

This world keeps spinning faster,

Into a new disaster, so I run to you,

I run to you

And when it all starts coming undone

You’re the only one I run to

I run to you

So what's next? I don't know. By, I do know, that the longer I wait, the sweeter whatever "it" is will be is exactly what God desires and it will be in his time. I'm learning that it is better to close my mouth and listen rather than talk so much. And, in all things, as Matthew 6:33 says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you." (ESV)