“Daniel Laruso’s gonna fight? Daniel Laruso’s gonna Fight!” There have been few movies in my life that has impacted me like the Karate Kid. I actually have a friend who will argue with you that the Karate Kid (Part I) was the movie that influenced all movies that would come after. But what isn’t there to like about Daniel Laruso’s story. I used to wake my mom up extra early to roll up a bandana just so I could wrap it around my head, and go flying around my living room in my robe at 5am kicking couch cousins like they were Johnny Lawrence’s Face! But what I realize about this movie, is that much like classic stories such as the Man in the Iron Mask or the Count of Monte Cristo; or classic movies such as Rocky IV and the Revenge of the Nerds; the Karate Kid set a tone for my life. That somehow when life knocks you down, you can make a plan, stick to it, and come out on top in the end.
There’s just one problem. It’s MY plan. I understand that from a young age I was taught that I was an individual. I was unique. And somehow, being a unique individual meant that somehow I was in control of my destiny. I think we all like to think that. We all like to think that if we train hard enough, or think hard enough, or love enough that somehow we can write out what our future will look like. However, I think that while it is important to embrace the fact that God has indeed made us unique, we must also realize that we are made unique with our own gifts so that it fits into a bigger picture. God’s picture.
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” - Proverbs 19:21
We are creatures who obsess over power. We want power. We fight for it. We crave it. When we feel powerless, we tend to feel like we are useless. And sometimes when we read text such as the one above from Proverbs, we rebel. We often times mix up the idea that if God is in control, we are powerless. Except we miss one important element of what texts like this really mean. If God is driving the bus, we are empowered through Him. I agree that we should never bow to another human in terms of them dictating what your plan is. But bowing to the God that loves us so much, He came down to climb up on a tree to free us from the brokenness in this world does not mean that we are without power, or left to drift.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” - Jeremiah 29:11
I am a fighter. No doubt. When I was a kid, unfortunately, I thought that fighting meant that I was taking the world by the horns and declaring that I was going to steer my life in the ways I wanted it to go. But what I find myself fighting for now is the most worthy, righteous and humbling goal I can ask for. I am fighting to completely lay myself at the feet of God. To listen to the message that Christ came to die for, and make myself subject to God’s ultimate plan. That is where I want to be. Squarely in the palm of God’s hand. This is where my heart craves to reside. And how, and where, and what is not for me to steer. This does not mean that I am saying that I am a puppet or a robot. That somehow I am not a part of what is happening in every moment I am blessed to live. It is quite the opposite. It is on me to be obedient, to align my heart with the Wisdom that comes from Creator. And as a phenomenal friend reminded me the other day, “Creator doesn’t make trash.”
We may all be clay, but that clay is a material that is more valuable that any treasure we can search out in this world. And while we dream of what shape we will be formed, and often times we tear ourselves apart to become that “vase” or “dish,” we forget that what God can make us is infinitely better quality than anything we can create on our very best day. So I am humbly submitting myself to the maker’s hands. Totally and completely, at least to the very best of my ability. And what has come from this journey has been a peace that I cannot comprehend. I am on fire right now. I am burning inside like I have never raged before. I have found happiness on a level that I have not known before. And it’s not easy. But it’s worth everything I have ever known before. When I think about the people in my life that I love, the best thing I can ever pray for is that they may know the plans that God has for them. To love myself, is to line my heart and soul up with this plan.
This brings me to ask, “God what are you up to?” A lot. And the response that I get back is something that blows me away. What He is up to in my life is building a work of art that I have a hard time believing I am worthy of being. Yet I want to be that work. I want to be molded. Every inch, every breath. Remembering that God’s ability as Creator is beyond my wildest imagination. And I am so madly in love with that kind of life that I cannot stop myself from being drawn deeply into that place.
Thank you God! Thank you Jesus for making any of this possible. Thank you Spirit for filling me with everything good that comes from God.
“Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
-Isaiah 64: 8
