IF ONLY

I've realized that those two little words (IF ONLY)get in the way of a lot of things. Actually, they transcend work, home and just life in general. Recently I have said to myself "I could change some of Bethany's marketing strategy.. IF ONLY Briercrest wasn't already doing that" or "I would write a book about that, IF ONLY someone else hadn't written one already" or "I should write a new blog post, IF ONLY I had a great topic to write about."

My question, then, is do we let these words really get in the way of the things we do? Or, do we just steam right along and do things DESPITE others already doing them or despite flaws in our talent pool? And really.. when you think about those two words for a long time, as I'm doing right now, do they even make sense together??

I recently heard one of our great faculty speak at a student banquet. She talked about how in life, instead of agonizing over decisions and whether or not you are in God's will, to go ahead and make decisions and TRUST that God will check you if your decision is wrong. To be in a place where you are always aware of where the Spirit is guiding you by helping you understand where NOT to go. I like that. When I think of the If Only's in my life, are they there because I don't know if I should go that direction and am waiting, somewhat like a coward I think, for God to say in big bold letters "GO THERE"? Or what if I started down that road and trusted that if this is not in God's will, He would tell me? I think God would like it better that way. I don't think He would want me to paralyze myself with the fear that I'm not in His will. I think if my God is big enough to make this universe, He's big enough to let me know where not to go.. IF ONLY I listen to His Spirit.