Don't overdive your headlights.

I have been thinking recently about the idea of discouragement. What causes it, and what corrects it? I recognize that it is a "normal" human emotion, yet I believe, more often than not, it is a symptom of something else. In my life anyway, discouragement comes when things do not occur in the way which I anticipate.

For the sake of illustration, let's say that I am planning a deer hunt. I spend two days finding all of my hunting gear, sighting in my shotgun, buying ammunition (because all of you know how many shots it takes me to kill a deer), and purchasing a license. Last minute of course.

After all my preparations, I head out on opening morning confident that I will take a deer. On the drive to my hunting spot I see deer crossing the road. It is still too dark to shoot, but I glimpse them in the headlights so I know there are still some that are available for the taking. As I struggle to climb into my tree stand I am racing the rising sun. I sit perfectly still for four hours and (against all odds) I never get the opportunity to take a shot.

Now hunters are optimists, we sit in the stand day after day because we know a deer is coming. We just need to be there when it happens.
A week later, hunting season ends. I spent the entire week waiting to harvest a deer. I did not struggle with discouragement because I was certain I would get a deer before the season ended. Even the last few minutes of light on the last day found me ready with anticipation. Nothing. Well, I tell myself, I had a good time anyway. Deer or no deer, hunting is fun.

I pack up all my stuff (I've been living in my truck for a week) and head home. Once again, as I drive in the dark, I see a flash of deer in the headlights. Only this time it is accompanied with the sound of an impact and a lurch of the truck. I see a deer sliding down the road ahead of me, naked as a jaybird. (by the way, this is a true story) As I get out of my truck, I see the hide of the deer under my front tire. Her body lay in the road 30 yards away. Huh.

You want to know what the funniest thing is? I was not discouraged about my week hunting until that very moment. Why?

Sometimes we get what we want, it just isn't in the way that we pictured, or the timing that we planned. Should we be discouraged because things don't proceed as we envision, or shall we move forward in faith to see what God has planned?
I have some ideas about this, I hope to have the time to share them over the next week or two. Stay tuned. Jon

Hebrews 10:36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.