Maybe I'm the shopping cart?

Is 'the world' a major flip-flopper lately, or is it just me? Is it really just my own attitudes and perceptions that is changing things? I really can't tell. I feel like I'm genuine though, but just because I feel like that, it's not fair for me to point a finger and assume 'the world' is not.

Wait a minute.. Stop, stop, stop!

Why am I concerning myself with 'the world'? These things are so small and petty in the big scheme of things. Why am I letting this bother me and take up valuable thinking time with something so small? 'The world', though? Small? Not hardly! But I think maybe it's time that I give myself a hard jolt and refocus on something that's even bigger than the world! He, Jesus, is bigger than the world! It's about Him, and not about other people. Refocus! Refocus!!!

So the other night I was sitting quietly reading through a daily devotional. It was about listening for God's voice. The 'action' part of it was to sit still and quiet and try to listen for God's voice yourself. So I did it. I don't know if it was because I was getting sleepy and maybe subconciously thinking about my To Do List, but I had this image come into my mind. I'm not going to move away and start my own country over it, but I think it's loose interpretation could be beneficial in my life. The image was of a shopping cart. The cart was moving, but the back end of it, the end you push from, got caught on something. This part didn't move beyond the thing it was caught on, but the front end did. It continued on for a bit. The cart sort of stretched.

So, I can think of this as just a reminder to watch where I'm going while pushing around the shopping cart so I can be most efficient while in the store, or I can see it another way. Maybe I'm the shopping cart. Perhaps I'm getting hung up on something and it's keeping me from fully and completely going where I need to go, and in the process, is stretching myself thin over a number of the things in my life.

Maybe I'm putting too much effort into the things in life that don't matter, thinking that these are the things that will help me to grow, but in actuality, I need something else. I need food. Spiritual food. And I'm not going to get it from marking a bunch of things off my To Do List or trying to make things happen on my own. Maybe this is a portion of the answer to my prayers about guidance in finding my place. Rather than giving me a specific here's-where-you-go answer, this is a here's-where-you-don't-go answer. Or maybe I should just stop trying so hard because things will happen in due time. In God's time.