Thriving
“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us…” Acts 17:26-27
My son was once the proud owner of a grey and yellow cockatiel who sat on a perch in his cage year after year. He learned words and amused us all. We felt sorry for him staying in his cage all the time, so sometimes we let him out. We figured out right away that he was uncatchable in this state of frenzied flying, so we asked the pet store owners what we could do. We were shown how to clip his wing feathers here and there so that he couldn’t get very far. He flew a little crookedly, but quickly found that he preferred to just hop around.
We clipped him and caged him so he would fit into our lifestyle. He was no longer all he was created to be.
When God created each species, He also created a perfect place for them—a land that would support them, a habitat that would allow them to use all their muscles and brains and instincts. The windswept, snowy heights of an alpine mountain goat’s home allow it to thrive, to use every part of what God placed within him, for survival, for mating, perhaps for the sheer joy of jumping from a rock to a hard place. Take that same goat and place him in the Sahara Desert, and either he will die or he will adapt—but he will never be all that he was created to be.
This is also true of people, in a couple of different ways. God knew the exact time and place for us, and that is where He put us (Acts 17:26-27). (When I was young, I thought surely God had made a mistake; I just knew I really belonged on the prairie with Laura Ingalls.) God created us exactly as we should be, according to His own will and plan. “Woe to him who strives with his Maker!… Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’” (Isaiah 45:9). Our minds and bodies thrive when we do what He has made us to do, be what He has made us to be. If you feel useless, restless, or “out-of-sync” with your life, perhaps you have missed your calling, or perhaps He is moving you to a new calling or place. Seek Him about this.
In another sense, our spirits were created to thrive in the place of communion with our Father. This is why we do not feel fulfilled when we aren’t connected to Him. We were created to hunger and thirst for Him, and only He can fill us up. If you are dry and shriveled in your spirit, if you feel something is missing, seek Him about this.
Father, may we not settle for less than Your created plan for us. May we thrive—spirit, soul, and body—by living out what You created us to be and do. Amen.