Forgetting the smaller picture

I have posted quite a bit about remembering to not focus too much on the smaller 'picture', but to instead focus on the big picture (as in, not focusing on your hardships, but instead focusing on what God is going to do with those hardships, etc).

However, last Sunday while attending church at a friend's house, I was convicted of also looking at the smaller picture. Just in a different way....

We had been talking about how often we tend to stray from God's side.  One couple was sharing how their two dogs, Georgie and Gracie, were very different in personalities.   Whenever the Mr. was going to go out and check the water tanks, Georgie would stay right next to him, walking so close he would practically trip over her.  Gracie, however, tended to run here and there, chasing a bird there, running after a rabbit here.  Mr. would have to call her back to his side.  She'd stay for a while, then something shiny would catch her eye and off she'd go.

Well, one day, miss Gracie was running all over, her head up in the clouds, and she wasn't paying very much attention.  Unfortunately, she was headed right for a water tank that was 4 feet deep.  Being a little Corgi dog, she was only about 2 feet or so....  Well, sure enough, she jumped up to grab something and landed right into stock tank.  She sank down, then came bobbing back up, doing her best to stay afloat.  Mr. laughed, went over, and pulled her out.  She stood there, dripping wet, with some green scum draped all over her nose.

It puts quite a funny picture into your head, but then you apply it to your own life and it ain't so pretty any more. I am afraid that I am a Gracie... flying about here and there, anxious to do whatever God tells me, but not staying near Him long enough to really know WHAT I am supposed to be doing.

Mr. was explaining that he tends to fly about and just wants to do the task, but doesn't focus on sticking next to His Saviour to learn more and more about Him daily.  He just focuses on 'the big picture', in a sense.

So, in a way, we do need to focus on the smaller picture.  We have to be looking towards Him daily for guidance and strength.

I found this hit very close to home, if not straight on, for me right now.  God has already told me what I need to be doing after I graduate.  I am very thankful for this direction, as I want to have something to do to keep me busy after I graduate instead of 'drifting about', in a sense. However, when we were talking on Sunday, it really struck me that I had not been focusing on each day in the way I should have been.  I was forgetting to 'step and smell the roses' and enjoy the world God created!  I was forgetting to stop and soak in His love for me, and pour my love for Him back into the relationship. I was focusing *too much* on the bigger picture.

I know that, just like everything else that we have to work on, it will take time to get into the habit of focusing on my daily life as well.  However, I know I can do it with Jesus beside me, helping me along the way.  Isn't it wonderful to think that He will just pull us out of that pond, chuckling and helping us to learn to laugh at it, too, and then clean off that scum and help us start afresh?

May He guide you daily in the things you need to do!

In Christ's Service,
Sarah