finding the jet streams of God

 "The task is not to get God to do something I think needs done, but to become aware of what God is doing so that I can participate in it." -Eugene Peterson

Some time back, I spent some time in Northern Ireland. It's a beautiful place, and Lord willing, I'll get to return someday.

The flight to Dublin surprised me; I thought it'd be at least eight or 10 hours in the air. To my happy surprise, flying Chicago to Dublin only took six hours. Due to seeing too many Mercator map distortions in school, I incorrectly presumed it'd be much longer.

So on the return flight back to Chicago from Dublin, I was all prepped for the nifty six-hour flight. Next to me on the plane sat next to a well-dressed business person with breath that smelled faintly of stale hangover, cheap cigarettes, and pub food. Not an immediately noxious odor, but its cumulative effect could reach that point. "Ah well," I thought. "It's only six hours."

Actually, the flight took seven hours and change. From Dublin, to Chicago. The resilient bad breath next to me had me positing that perhaps I hallucinated, and the flight only felt longer. But no ... it really was a longer flight flying westward than it was traveling east.

Why? It was the jet stream. 

Jet Stream (n): "a narrow variable band of very strong predominantly westerly air current encircling the globe several miles above the earth."

Flying to Dublin, we piggy-backed into the pre-existing jet stream. Yet on the flight back, we had to fly against this wind. It added that extra time to our return flight.

I think about this reality of the earth whenever I come across the Eugene Peterson quote: "The task is not to get God to do something I think needs done, but to become aware of what God is doing so that I can participate in it." -Eugene Peterson

It reorients my perspective on pursuing God's will in day-to-day life. What if there's a jet stream of God-work happening all the time; if so, how can I cooperate with that flow?

What has God already been showing and doing with this person, or this situation, or this place? Where has God been working with me? How can I reflect and discern what that is, and how can I best pitch in and cooperate? This reframing helps me:

-This reframing reminds me move more thoughtfully when seeking to show God's love to others. I want to participate in however God is at work, but I first gotta take time to figure out what that work is. Part of getting to help out on a project is taking the time to discern the long-term plans for the project, and where it's pointed.

-Gives me some relief. I don't have to forever creatively find new stuff to do, or new ways to help out. The odds are quite solid that God already has some plans in motion.

-This reframing reminds me I do *not* have to provide it all. Not every burden I come across is de facto mine to hoist. How, where, and through whom is God already providing in this situation? How is God already equipping others and them to handle a burden, and to help make it lighter?

-This reframing frees me from arrogantly presuming I have a huge role to play in everyone else's life. WAY WAY more often than not, I'm a walk-on cameo. You are too. Walk-on cameos have such importance! They can utterly change a trajectory of a story. But it is the Lord's story, and the Lord's plans.

How is God inviting y'all to take part in stuff he's already been working on? How might God be calling you toward participating in his kingdom work of making all things new? How does this free you from feeling like you gotta start from scratch in showing love and care for others?

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"Make me to know your ways, O Lord

teach me you're paths.

Lead me in truth and teach me, 

for you are the God of my salvation;

for you I wait all the day long." -Psalm 24:4-5