Making a pocket for God

Sometime last year, God introduced me to the works of George MacDonald.  For the many of you who don’t recognize the name, the writings of George MacDonald were the inspiration behind some of the greatest fantasy writers of modern day including J. R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis (a personal favorite of mine),

One of the books I purchased on MacDonald contained several of his sermons and one in particular resonated with me because of the genius of it’s imagery.  I’d like to share a part of that now.

“He is the God of comfort and consolation.  He will sooth and satisfy His children better than any mother her infant.

…He gives what His child needs – often by refusing what he asks….There are good things God must delay giving until His child has a pocket to hold them – till he gets His child to make that pocket.  He must first make him fit to receive and to have.  There is no part of our nature that shall not be satisfied – and that not by lessening it, but by enlarging it to embrace an ever-enlarging enough.”

“There are good things God must delay giving until His child has a pocket to hold them – till he gets His child to make that pocket”.  What incredible imagery.  I know the first time I read this I instantly recalled a time when I thought I was ready for something, but God showed me that I hadn’t yet finished making my pocket.  For me, that meant turning my heart and soul fully and completely toward God.  Until I was able to focus on working for God’s approval instead of the world’s I couldn’t move forward in my career.  As a writer, in this age of instant critiques, it is so easy to get caught up in what other people say about you and your work.  I know it can be that way for many of us in our daily lives.  Is our kid in the right sport?  on the right team? is our car/house enough?  Do I have the right friends?  Job?  Clothes?  I think of all of the ways in which I allowed the world to intrude on me and get in the way of God’s plan for my life.

Ephesians 3:20 says  “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us”.   I want to  give God time to make the perfect pocket to hold the gifts that he wants to give me so that I can be so much more than I could possibly ask to be – because his power is at work within me.

I always bring it back to being a parent – and it is part of the reason why I think parenting well is so important – because in our relationships with our children and our parents, we are given a glimpse of the relationship that is possible with our Father in heaven.

Don’t you want to give your children so much more than they can ask or imagine?  But you don’t take off the training wheels until your child is ready to ride on their own.

My prayer for you today is that you find the courage to open yourself to God’s plan for your life.  Let him make you a pocket, perfectly designed, to hold all of the gifts he would so dearly love to give you.

God bless,

Meredith