I have only put sunscreen on my body once this summer. Before you think me reckless and unwise, let me tell you that though I prefer warm weather to the stark and bleak cold of winter, I don't relish extreme heat either and I definitely don't like to sweat! The time I've spent outdoors this summer has been in short periods of time that aren't in the peak times of day for the sun to do its damage.
When I was a teenager though, I strove to get that "healthy-looking" tan. My friends and I would lay out in the backyard on lawn chairs, slathering on a mixture of iodine and baby oil, flipping from front to back at regular intervals to fry ourselves evenly. Unfortunately, it was to no avail. My daughter says I am the whitest white woman she knows! I think she is referring to more than the hue of my skin, but it's true that I cannot get a tan by any means. I burn, peel and go back to the same pasty white. So, I made the decision pretty early on that since I could not get that golden glow that I'd avoid all the burns and the sweating and the frustration and limit my time in the sun.
So many times in life we think we really need or want something and it doesn't happen. My dreams of looking like the girls in the teen magazines did not come to pass, but there was a huge silver lining in that frustrated wish. By avoiding the sun for the last 45 years, my skin has maintained its youth better than some other folks my age. I often surprise people who learn my age for the first time. Better than that, I seem to have dodged the skin cancer bullet as well.
What's all this got to do with spiritual things? I know there are times I asked God for things in my life I thought would make me complete or happy or fulfilled, but those prayers were not answered in the way I envisioned them. In retrospect, I can now see the hand of God in the way He responded to the things I thought I wanted. His plan was far greater than the limited one I had designed and some of those requests would have eventually spelled disaster for me if they had played out according to my wishes.
It boils down to this: God has a vision for our lives and a view of our lives that is so far beyond what we can imagine that the only wise thing for us to do is to trust Him. Oh, how we want to dictate to Him how things should be. We want His stamp of approval on our plans instead of seeking Him to guide us into His.
I once heard a sermon that referenced the scripture: "Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4) We think this means if you follow God, He'll give you all the things you want, but this pastor's take on the scripture was that if your delight is in the Lord, He'll put the desires in your heart that He wants you to have - those that will bring about His purpose in your life and in the lives of others that you touch. He is concerned with Kingdom purpose - not wish granting. It's an interesting thought. Are we willing to let His desires become our desires and quit holding on to what we think we want?
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