A dream warning

I had a dream early this morning and decided to interrupt our study of 1 Peter, chapter 1, to share it with you:

Had an interesting dream just before I woke up this morning. I was walking along a highway at a comfortable pace, and then saw the flow of traffic (at night) thick, fast, and loud, with cars zipping by, recognizable only by the streaks of light and sound they created.

Then I heard a voice say to me as I was about to step in to join the flow, “Don’t let yourself be destroyed by other people’s forward progress.”

That seems so backward in today’s society and even in the church world. But it rang true to me.

God’s not a frenetic God. He’s not nervously twitching to keep up with anyone. Nor is He a frenetic taskmaster. He doesn’t “clock” us  with His stopwatch or berate us to keep up with the pack. No; He’s the Shepherd who walks ahead of the flock, not a driver who pushes the herd from behind with whips, sharp prods, and snapping dogs.

He’s the God who not only created the cheetah, but He’s also the God who created the turtle. I’ve never observed a turtle (or a dachshund or an elephant or any other member of the animal kingdom) berate itself because it can’t zip around the forest at 70 mph. No; the turtle is content to stroll at its own pace, filling its part in the Big Picture–the part it was uniquely created to fill.

May we have such wisdom and press on–at the unique pace God’s set for each one of us–and not let ourselves be destroyed by anyone else’s forward progress.

Dorothy