Duck, Duck, Goose

“Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people)…” Ephesians 5:15

Another person, who went to India as part of the team I was on, posted this picture today. Here’s me, cheering someone on as I am teaching a circle of kids at the Happy Home in India how to play “Duck, Duck, Goose”. What a precious time, seeing them all learn and play with such delight!

How similar that game is to some of my thoughts before the trip and now, for sure, after taking the trip. I have contemplated it so many times throughout my life.

I often wonder why and how God chose for me to live where I live, be born healthy and into the family I am in, meet the man I married, live a comfortable and healthy life, have good and healthy kids, not be in want, be able to worship freely, have brunette hair and fabulous friends, like the great outdoors and the color yellow – and all of the other things that make up who I am, where I live, and how my world view is developed.

I am no more or less deserving of happiness or contentment than anyone else, certainly not more than the beautiful kids we spent time with in India. No more than the widows or the orphans in Haiti, in lack of clean water and healthy living conditions. No more than the parent sitting at the bedside of their child fighting a disease or an addiction, or the old man our friend Roshan found on the side of the road in Shimoga yesterday.

Though often the ‘chooser’ in “Duck, Duck, Goose” chooses the next “goose” randomly, I think God is more like that one who has someone specific in mind, who wants a certain person to chase them. I don’t think He decided randomly, but He had specific ideas and purposes in mind for how He chose me and how He chooses all of us.

“You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day.” Psalm 139:15-15 (Message Bible)

He purposefully chose me to be uniquely me. I had to be born here, in this family, have these relationships and life experiences to grow into the me He created me to be. I had to be on this particular journey.

I can never understand the big picture and, using human emotion, be ‘fine’ with seeing others live in sadness, sickness, poverty and even hopelessness. It is my challenge to walk worthy of whatever He has called me to, to accept whatever challenges He has for me with a willing heart -- even with joy, delighting in learning and in “playing”,trying to live wisely, accepting that He does not look at how worthy I am, but at who He created me to be.

"A bird's not defined by being grounded but by his ability to fly. Remember this, humans are not defined by their limitations, but by the intentions I have for them; not by what they seem to be, but by everything it means to be created in my image." ~ W. Young

Smiling as I enjoy the lesson,

*Ephesians 4:1

*James 1:2-4

*Ecclesiastes 9:10