The Point #161 - I Always Wanted That!

What is something specific in your life that you dreamed about as a kid, and God has brought it into your life? We would love to hear from you! Drop a comment below and tell us - what was that thing for you? Today’s audio is a little bit about Stella D’Oro Lillies, and a little encouragement to make God smile.

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Hello, friends, and happy summer. You know, especially in the summer, I'm probably going to be mentioning nature of some kind, right? Let me tell you something just to brag on God. When I was growing up, there were a few things that I can remember. And truth be told, I didn't remember these things for a long time until I had them in my life, and I realized, oh my goodness, that was a dream from my childhood. One thing in my childhood that I thought would be so amazing is if someday the driveway up to my house was tree-lined. Isn't that funny? I don't know when I drove through a tree-lined driveway and that that wish stuck in my head. It wasn't uh an intense wish or something I thought about a lot. But of course, when God gave me a tree-lined driveway, he brought that memory back to me. And I thought, oh my goodness, I wanted this as a kid. Another thing is lilac bushes. I love the smell of lilacs. And I always thought it would be so amazing someday to have lilacs planted outside of the windows of my house. So in the spring, when they bloom in May, you could smell that on the breeze. Yes, you guessed it. The house where we live has a line of lilac bushes by the side door. Because that is what God does. I don't know which came first, the chicken or the egg, but in my mind, I believe that God gives us the desires because he knows he's going to fulfill them down the road, because he sees the future, and I think he plants that thought in our mind. So he, because he knows he's going to fulfill it. Um, when the Bible says he gives us the desires of our heart, that's how I interpret it. I think he gives us the desires that we have, not sinful desires, of course, those don't come from him, but little random, we might think, desires, not even intense, passionate desires that we are going to pursue with our lives, just little things we like, we we would enjoy. I think the Holy Spirit plants those in our heart because he knows our future and he sees when he's going to fulfill those desires for us. And it's just a loving God that does these things for us all the time. If we have our eyes open to see it, God wants a relationship with us. It's all a love relationship. The entire Bible is a love letter written to us. It's a man wooing his future bride to himself, and then the rapture in heaven, the bride of Christ, the marriage supper of the lamb. All of it is unfolding in his story for us. He is always drawing us to him in loving ways. But we've got to take the time and ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes that we can behold wondrous things out of his law and in his nature and all around us on this earth. So here's my story for today. This is more of a conscious thought that I had through the years as an adult. Driving from different places, going on all these errands as an adult, you drive through bank drive-throughs, fast food gas stations, uh stores, and they do a little bit of landscaping outside their businesses. Well, in my area, I don't know if this is how it is where you live, but many businesses will plant bright yellow Stellodoro lilies. And those are beautiful. Yellow is my favorite color for a flower and to bring inside and have the bright, cheerful yellow as a pop of color in the house with flowers. And I always thought Stellodoro lilies, I want to plant those at my house someday because they're beautiful. And I love perennials that come back every year. So in our house in Maryville, I did eventually get to plant those. Our last house where we lived, I planted those, and uh, we had some Stellodoro lilies. Uh, you know, they were just starting. We lived there for maybe a year or two, and we had a few, and I love them. So I had forgotten about that for several years. And then, of course, you guessed it, outside the side door of the house where we live now, there is a beautiful bunch of bright yellow stelodoral lilies, and I love them. Recently, as I was standing outside admiring them and thanking God for having the former owner plant these, who knows how many years ago, um, at the house here, this thought came to my mind. I want God to look at me and be happy when he sees me in my very short lifespan here on earth, thinking about the time when he was looking forward to having Molly in his life to communicate with him, to be his friend, to be his creation, to bring him joy, to bring him happiness. I want my life to be that thing that brings a smile to the face of God. When he, the Bible tells us we are created to bring glory and light to our creator. He wanted a relationship with us, he thought about this before the beginning of time, and he decided in 1976, Molly is going to be born on earth. I because I want exactly what she is, what I'm making her. And he did the same thing with you. And I want to be that Stelladoro lily that is bright and cheerful and brings a smile to the face of God and reminds him back when he thought up the idea of wanting to have me someday in the future, and now here I am blooming when he planted the idea of me millions of years ago in the mind of God. Or I don't know how that works, he's eternal, but you know what I mean. It was a reverse thought. I always look at nature and thank God for how amazing he is and how detailed and creative he is. But for the first time I thought, I want to be that. I want to be that flower that the creator knew about a long time ago, but is now in that little short blooming season of my life on earth. I want to be that for the creator. Do you want that? Do you want to be that thing where you think, I wanted this when I was a kid, and now God has given it to me. Do you know how happy that makes you when you have something like that in your life? You couldn't have made it happen, but God did it for you. And it was a childhood dream or a dream from years ago, and God brought it about just to make you happy. That's what I want my life to be for him. When I was in college, I had a similar type thought to that, and I wrote it out on a little three by five card. In the dorms in college, my freshman year, uh, my bed was the top bunk in the dorm, Walden 300. And I taped it to the wall right by my face so I could see it at night, and I could see it when I wake up in the morning. And I still remember how I phrased it. The phrase I wrote out on the three by five card was this Is my life today in accordance with the dream God had of what I would be when He created me to fulfill His purpose? Am I living out the dream that God had of what Molly Otis would be when she lived on earth? I hope so. Because our entire existence is to bring pleasure and delight and fellowship and just a little tiny something to the heart of God that he can't get anywhere but from you. Just like every snowflake is different, every fingerprint is different, you have a way to make God smile that no one else on earth has. And we have this very short time period on earth to do that for him. I want to make God smile like Estella Doro lily makes me smile. What makes you smile? Are you that for your creator? Let's walk in love this week, friends. Loving God and loving others. Have an awesome summer.