But little Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!
Still you are blessed, compared with me!
The present only touches you:
But oh! I backward cast my eye,
On prospects dreary!
And forward, though I cannot see,
I guess and fear!
The present only touches you:
But oh! I backward cast my eye,
On prospects dreary!
And forward, though I cannot see,
I guess and fear!
(selection from, "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns)
".Still you are blessed...compared to me...the present only touches you...I backward cast my eye...and forward...I guess and fear"
This poem depicts the envy of a man toward a common mouse. He is saddened by his past, unable to stand his present and fearful of his future. His glass is quite definitely half-empty.
"The best laid schemes [plans] of mice and men go often askew..." Despite his melancholy outlook, he is right. Too often we make plans, as men or as women, and yet those plans do not come to fruition the way we dream. We know what we want and we try to manipulate life, people, situations, or standards to make our will win. But when our plans do not include seeking God's will, the outcome will generally be disappointing.
In the book of Jeremiah, the profit acts as a messenger for God to His people who are exiled in a distant land. Much of the book is sad, because Jeremiah has to tell the Israelites everything they have done wrong, but toward the middle of the book God gives the people hope. He says, "I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 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 29:10b-11)
God tells the Israelites that He will rescue them. He already has a plan set in motion, they just need to trust Him.
The same goes for each one of us. God already has a plan set in motion for each one of our lives. A plan to bless us, to love us, to give us hope. In order to reap those blessings, we must live in God's will. We live in His will by seeking Him out every day of our lives: "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:12-13) He wants us to seek out His guidance. He wants us to seek out His plans for our lives. He wants us to seek Him out with our whole hearts; our whole lives.
But if we choose to set our own plans for the future, without seeking God's will, we will likely be like the mouse, watching our plans go askew (or just plan old badly).
We do not need to live like the Poet Robert Burns, saddened by the past, fearful of the future, and afraid of the present day's pain. We have the joy of knowing that God has good plans for us and He promises to fulfil those plans. He has them all laid out - and they are plans, "to give you hope and a future."
God has it all figured out - you just have to trust Him to lead the way.
Scripture
Fun Fact...GUMY Memories Top Ten Countdown
#6....Seeing Jesus in the Mirror
On what was supposed to be a typical GUMY session we had been made aware of a conflict amongst some of the girls in the group and a new girl who had recently started attending. The long-term GUMYs were not being welcoming to the newcomer and myself and Libby (the other youth leader) decided we needed to have a lesson to bring to light some of the conflict - - showing all of the girls that Jesus is truly living inside of each of us.
To do this we had small handheld mirrors for each of the GUMYs that night and shared with them from 1 John 4: 19-20 about loving your sister/brother whom you see....During the lesson we told each one of the teens to look into their mirrors...and we asked them, "Do you see Jesus in that mirror?" One of the girls breathed on her mirror and then wiped the mirror on her pant leg before looking again. The image of her cleaning her mirror to search for Jesus was both inspiring and humorous. At the end of the day, Jesus does live inside of us once we accept the Holy Spirit...but sometimes the outside world has a hard time seeing him because our windows don't allow his light to shine through.
Question of the Day
What is your dream for the future?
(Dreaming is a good thing - God helps to reveal His plans for us by the desires He places on our hearts)
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