An Unexpectant Box

One of our daughters is moving this week from a townhome into a house.  For the past few weeks, she has been packing their belongings and trying to keep her one-year-old from unpacking it all.  It is both scary and humbling to go through one's closets and realize what phantoms have been lurking within -- clothing rarely worn, possessions from time past that have outlived their usefulness, and always the things that have been hidden in plain sight, some a delight to find, and others, well, time to move it on.

One of our other daughters lived with them about two years ago.  There were a couple of items that she was missing, in particular a small box that contained four glass mugs.  She had scoured the attic previously and even told me to keep my eye out for a mug-size cardboard box, but I never saw it.  I figured that it would rise to the surface during a move.

This week, in one of the final closets to be packed, there was a large unidentified box way up on the shelf.  Not wanting to take anything superfluous to their next residence, our daughter opened the container.  There was not only the box of mugs, but a much-needed duvet, some clothing, and art supplies.  Those things were there all the time.  They all had just been searching for something very different.

I was perusing a book about prayer yesterday.  In it, the author advised not just to pray, but to expect something amazing to happen.  And yes, indeed, we should always pray expectantly.  But "something amazing" may take a different form than what you expect.

What is most profound of all may actually be in a different size box.  It's not that God didn't answer, but you were looking for something else.  You may miss the outcome entirely by pre-ordering His response, looking for the spectacular fireworks display, not His still small voice.

Seek God, not an answer.  He will reveal Himself to you.  With God there is no box of your own imagining.  Don't miss what He is doing.  He may lead you in ways you would never expect and always for much deeper purposes than you had in mind. 

For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways My ways, says the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways
and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55. 8-9