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Receive your Best Life

                 “Chickadees are very curious.  See if one will come to you.”
                Heeding Sara’s suggestion, I put my hand out, palm up, and waited.  Within a few seconds, a little bird landed on a nearby branch, cocked his head and looked at looked at me.  Then, in a move so quick that you could hardly anticipate it, he jumped off the branch, flew over and landed on my hand.  He was only there for a second or two, but those few seconds have stayed in my mind for weeks.
                Here is the thing that I keep thinking about: I could not have forced that encounter.  Calling that bird in would not have worked.  Chasing it through the trees would have only scared it off.  Once the bird landed on my hand, it was only there as long as it wanted to be.  I could not have caught it or kept it if I had tried.  In fact, any effort on my part to make that circumstance happen would have meant that it would not have happened at all.
                Some things only come to you because you are open to receiving them.
                We live in a time that emphasizes our ability to control things.  “Live life to its fullest” and “Go after what you want” are the mottos that dominate our thinking.  We are trained to ask, “What will make me happy” and then we structure our lives around the acquisition of whatever we think will satisfy us.
                Sadly, though, the more I watch people living their “best life” the more convinced I am that your best life is not in your control. 
                The Book of Ecclesiastes says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity” (3:1) and then it goes on to list things like birth and death, planting and harvesting, tearing down and building.  In other words, it is not all building, harvest or birth.  God is going to take us through both good and bad.  Therefore, happiness is not just about making our dreams come true.  Rather, it is found by giving up our need to control everything and learning to find God’s presence all of life’s circumstances.
                 The best things in life are not acquired by grasping at them. 
                 Those blessings come only to those who quietly, but expectantly, hold their hands open and wait.

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