Square Pegs, Pits, and Stumbling Blocks

I've been a little weary of late, physically, emotionally and perhaps a bit spiritually also. I'm weary not through lack of desire for a deeper., more meaningful relationship with God but perhaps from discovering what that really means. It comes to mind that this is a pit (as I wrote about in a previous post). It's a pit of doubt, a pit about the "right" way of "being."

I feel a bit like I'm a square peg trying to fit into a round hole.  The truth is I don't mind others being in the round holes. I'm okay with that. I think it works for them and therefore is most likely exactly where God wants them to be. Some people call them "traditionalists" but that's just a word. I don't consider myself a traditionalist, although again that is just the way I view myself. Don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with traditionalists. They serve as the backbone of faith. It just doesn't feel like my path.

 

While I was pondering this I came across the above. Definitely not disillusioned with the spiritual search but can see how others reach that point quite quickly in today's world. The only way to combat it is through conversation with God and musing about your own personal relationship to God. No one else has the same relationship to Him that you do. God isn't a one size fits all. That's not to say there aren't very basic aspects of God that stay the same from person to person. It's just to point out that you might "know" God in a different way than I do and honestly I think that's ok. While saying that I must point out that there may be many that don't agree with that. They want you to fit into the round hole because it makes them more certain that their relationship with God is "correct."

 

Here's a little thought from our I Am Bible study.....

 

"When you find yourself in an unwanted place, you know that place in not a destination."  It's just a stopping place. Some stopping places are dark and dreary and we can't wait to move on but others are cozy and comfy and we tend to want to stay exactly where we are. Yet our spiritual quest is a journey, one whose destination you will not discover in this lifetime.  To me there is just as much "danger" in the comfy places that we don't want to leave as there is in the dark places. Oh be it, a different type of danger. The danger of stunted growth, of withering on the vine, of missing some aspect of the journey that God has planned for you.

 

I have written before about "becoming" and how is one to become if they stop evolving, stop questioning, stop considering?  If they are so comfortable with their "spot" that they stop venturing down the path.  As I was shaken in my own personal spiritual quest, as I started to stumble over that block, as I was getting caught up in "being right" or perhaps worried that other people's paths might be the "right" one...I was reminded by God that the "next step" was to stop worrying about it. God has this one! Where He leads I will follow and if it's a different path than others, I suppose I will rejoice in God making me a square peg rather than worrying about the round holes!

 

Hugs to everyone...

 

 

Stumbling Blocks

 

Have you ever really thought about how often we are "stumbling blocks" for others? Perhaps we let our negativity about some aspect of life tarnish another's joy. Perhaps we "steal joy" from someone when we are critical of how they do something or even "where" they are in life. In earthly ways we judge "success" and sometimes when someone isn't "successful" by earthly measures (money, house, great job) then we count them "out of the race." The real question is, should it be a race at all?  Let's face it....none of it's going with us. What if we looked at success in a different way, one that is more spiritual in nature and doesn't require winners and losers.

 

 

What if we looked at success as how many people we help, inspire, nurture, befriend, uplift, comfort etc.

 

"Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come." Luke 17:1

This reminds me of a sermon today about being "in the pit." I want to save that musing for another day but stumbling blocks (which have been on my mind a lot lately) and pits are quite similar. They are places in life where things aren't where we would like them to be. Things that bring us down, things that cause us to lose our way and stray from the path that God has set before us.

Traveling on the path of life sometimes we get lost, we take detours, we come to dead ends, we run out of gas or we just stop along the way at a crossroads not sure which way to turn. Along the way do we find people that clear the tangled overgrown brambles from our path or do we find people that roll boulders onto the well worn path?  When you run out of gas who do you have to fill your tank? 
Are you a tank filler for others? 

 

Hugs to all of you. May you find people in life to pull the tangled weeds from your path, to fill your tank, and uplift you in the joy of life. There is one that is always there to do so, may you find peace in Him even if others let you down.

 

I'll be back soon with another musing....perhaps the one about the pits or maybe one about the knock on the door, or who knows, maybe I'll go off in some whole other direction. You just never know, I follow where I am led, and allow my musings to be my own personal spiritual quest.