Relinquishing Our Way

With the bitter cold keeping hubby and me inside--okay, I'll admit it. It's keeping me, the wimp inside-- we chose to paint the living room. 

The furniture was shoved into the center of the room and tarps put down. Next we taped the woodwork and pulled out the paint. 

We bought this awesome ceiling white paint that goes on pink then turns white. Love this stuff. I asked hubby, commander of this project, which direction he wanted the strokes to go. 

He pointed to the outer wall and said, "May as well go this way since I already started painting." 

Fine. I walked to the other side of the room and kept my strokes like he said. After a few splats in my hair, I looked over at him. He had turned his roller in a different direction!

No. This cannot be. He set the standard, I followed, it is etched in stone.

"You can't go that way, I said."

"Sure I can. The ceiling is textured."

And that was all he had to say. By the time he reached the center of the room his roller must have gone in at least fifty directions (only slight exaggeration…you understand).

While waiting for this first coat to dry, we took a coffee/tea and snack break. 

There are probably half a million applications to this experience:

Flexibility is good.
The first interpretation of an answer may not always be the only interpretation.
Sometimes relinquishing our way involves more than one step.

Will you suggest some others?

I recently read about Mr. Cardwell, a missionary serving with Hudson Taylor. When Mr. Cardwell arrived in China he mentioned his heart's desire to serve in a particular city. Taylor assigned Cardwell to a different place in greater need of workers. Cardwell and his wife didn't do well in the assigned place. He became chronically ill. After Cardwell made some serious errors due to inexperience the other missionaries working with him wanted to send Cardwell home.

Hudson Taylor gave the man a second chance. He sent Cardwell to the location his heart and told him to go. In a short time, Cardwell's health improved tremendously. Other missionaries sent letters to Taylor telling him of Cardwell's incredible voyages into areas where no missionary had travelled. Cardwell started a church near his home. Chinese locals walked from long distances to attend his services.

Would his ministry have been so meaningful had he been assigned first to the city on his heart? I'm thinking not. 

Our paths are not always straight, 
but they definitely are the correct ones, 

leading up into situations
 that cause us to relinquish our way to God's way.

This post was brought to you today by the one-word: Relinquish.