I’m sitting at my computer at work making phone calls and in he walked. I can count on him about every two weeks to come in with a small box of sunshine. Today was that day. This day he had two boxes! Two beautiful clear boxes from the local grocer’s bakery. The colors popped from 100 feet away. It was a rainbow of beauty and wonder. Jim was bringing cupcakes to work!
Now that may not mean anything to you, but to me it is a tremendous lift in my spirit. I can’t express the amount of joy that floods my little heart when I see free cake of any kind. There were pink ones, blue ones, purple, green, and yellow ones. If Noah would have been me, the rainbow God made his promise with would have been in cupcake form.
They were gorgeous, but there was one thing missing.
The little paper cup was great, with even spaces between each ruffle. The cake had raised just high enough to crest above the edge of the paper cup. The sprinkles were spread over top the icing like the morning dew on a golf course green on a Spring morning. The icing swirled up to its majestic point. But, there was an issue. Don’t get me wrong, it was a beautiful cup cake. It just had that slight flaw. The icing didn’t cover all of the cake. It covered most of it, but it wasn’t enough to fill to the edge of the cup leaving some of the cake exposed!
Now before you dismiss this little cupcake don’t think for a second that I didn’t devour it instantly. I loved it, flaw and everything. It is just that I know it could have been even better if the baker had not stopped short. If only he would have just slowed long enough to cover it completely! Like Maxwell Smart always said, “Missed by that much.”
Israel was given an amazing victory, but there was one thing…..
Jericho was a formidable city. The walls were massive and made the city almost unconquerable. Almost that is, except when God had something to say about it. God set in motion a plan that gave Israel the city and the victory without swinging one blade at the enemy. Part of that deal was that the loot from the “battle” all belonged to the Lord.
The win was swift and miraculous with the people of Israel simply marching around the city walls singing and blowing trumpets. The massive walls came crashing to the Earth and Israel walked into the win.
But there was one thing…. A man named Achan was greedy.
“The Lord has said that everything in Jericho belonged to him. But Achan from the tribe of Judah took some of the things from Jericho for himself…” Joshua 7:1
God was angry, and Achan’s theft was exposed. He was stoned to death! Israel had a win that even still our children sing songs about, and who’s story is told everywhere. It was awesome, but they came up short. Like the cupcake, they could have been so much more.
God’s dream and vision for our lives is incredible, but there is one thing…
God has made each of us for a purpose. His dream is not an afterthought of creating you. In fact it is the purpose that you exist. It being realized in our relationship with him is the meaning of life. We are all called to something beyond us, something greater, something that requires us dreaming, believing, creating, acting, and giving away, to see realized.
We are all called to something beyond us, something greater, something that takes us dreaming, believing, creating, acting, and giving away, to see realized.
That dream for you is bigger, grander, and more creative than anything you have accepted as your future. To see that happen you must believe in it. If its worth doing its not easy. If its simple and you can accomplish it on your own, then its not all that he wants for you. He wants you to need him to realize the dream for your life. There are an infinite amount of options and paths that he has been preparing for you. You may fail at an endeavor but that may be what is necessary to reach the end goal of your dreams. The key, the one thing that you must remember and prescribe to is this. “Don’t stop believing.”
Its not just a great 80’s song, its the only way to be what God designed for you to be. Don’t look away, stay focused. Don’t shy away, believe in what God has placed in you. Don’t listen to those who don’t believe, its not their vision, God gave it to you because they couldn’t do it. And never skip the journey. There is no shortcut.
Each step will prepare you for the next. If you get in a hurry your icing will get thrown in place and not cover all of the cake. Don’t come up short and loose even in the win like Achan. He wasn’t happy that God had the win, he wanted to take for himself. He failed to see this win was not about him. Just like your dream ,as great as what you gain from living the journey to its completion will be, its not about you.
Go after God’s plan in God’s time and revel in the victory he brings you. All the glory, all the praise is His. All that comes with it, the journey, the joy, the learning, the winning and losing, the overcoming, and the peace that comes with the dream, well that’s the icing on the cake.