Stepping Stones: “Future Gazing” on Your Personal Red Carpet

Transformational Thought

Imagine seeing a beautiful red carpet being unrolled in front of an honored person as she excitedly walks forward with pride and jubilant expectation. An extravagant hairdo, head held high, all made up, and in her fanciest dress. The red carpet is her defined, honored, special, unique, and precious path … only for her ... to honor her ... and it’s designed for her maximum benefit and enjoyment.

Don’t we all want to walk our own personal red carpet? We do and we are. You see, your future is safely in the hands of your Lord and He has a path … a plan … your own personal red carpet specifically and specially designed for YOU. Sounds awesome, but there is one catch … even though you get to see the end point, you don’t get to see more than just one step ahead as He reveals it, your life, moment by moment.

Our natural me-centered tendency is to look farther ahead, anticipating and wishing for future moments, neglecting the special “now” moments He designed especially for us. Unrealistic expectations lead to letdowns, worries, hurts, confusion, frustration, and impatience. They clutter the red carpet path. Instead, we should be able to rest in God’s customized and loving path, the carpet designed perfectly for us, allowing us to enjoy each moment to its fullest.

God’s wonder and joy are only accessible in the present moment. Instead of gazing into the unknown future, live each moment in the joyful awareness of His presence. Enjoying the now acknowledges that God doesn’t make mistakes, really loves you, and meets your every need. Attaining this freedom isn’t easy, because our minds often wander to “Future Gazing” at will.

Today, when you find yourself engaging in “Future Gazing,” remind yourself that you are truly roaming in a fantasy land that is filled with potholes of self-destruction not self-preservation. This will help you return to the present where you will find Him waiting for you … rolling out your honored red carpet, designed specifically and especially for you.

Prayer
Dear Lord and Savior, What a comforting thought, knowing that You are unfolding my life to me exactly as You planned it. Teach me, Lord, how to spend more time in the present with You. I know that You hold my future far ahead of me and that when I “Future Gaze”, all I am really doing is exercising my imagination. It is impossible for me to know and anticipate what my future on Earth will hold for me. Help me walk forward on Your red carpet, never setting foot on anything but the present. I step forward today with confidence. I pray this in the name the One who died for the perfect ending point of my red carpet, Jesus Christ – and all God’s children say, AMEN!

The Truth
For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
Ecclesiastes 8:7

Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save. To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship! They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble. Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,'
Isaiah 46:3-10

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Revelation 1:8