I was sitting in the Cracker Barrel parking lot yesterday when Jesus spoke to me. I was watching a bird sitting on a power line and thinking to myself "He looks so content up there." I found myself feeling jealous of that bird, envious of the fact that he can simply exist without the weight of a thousand worries on his mind. I felt like God was trying to tell me something at that moment. I opened up my devotional and read "I speak to you continually. My nature is to communicate, though not always in words." I couldn't help but look up to the sky and smile. How is it that some days it is so difficult to hear the voice of God, but others it is so clear?
I closed my devotional, got out of my car, and went inside to look around the gift shop. I made my way to the back, where my eyes landed on a book titled "My Beautiful Sandcaslte Moments". I don't know why, but I picked it up and began to read. It was written by a woman who woke up one morning and realized she had been living with a cloud over her head. She felt the weight of the world on her shoulders and was yearning for the peace she once had. She goes down to the beach and begins to pray. She notices the remains of a sandcastle that the tide had destroyed. She remembers what it was like to be a child at the beach, how much enjoyment she got out of running through the waves with a bucket of sand, not a worry in the world.
When you're a child, life is all about the present. Your mind hasn't yet been clouded with the worries that come with growing up. Your entire life revolves around the current task, whether that be building a sandcastle or devouring a huge slice of watermelon. This is the type of freedom that God created us to experience. This is where pure joy comes from.
God is constantly teaching me lessons, but this is the most important lesson by far. After all, God speaks to us in the present, so why would I want to be anywhere else?
