Life is Like a Waterfall

Yesterday, I took a day off. To most of you, that isn't a big deal. Everyone takes a day off every now and then. To me, it's huge. Between two jobs and school, the only time I ever take a day off is for a wedding, funeral, or because I'm going out of town (which almost always means I'm the one driving, which means it isn't a day off). But yesterday, I took a day off.
My friend Lauren and some of the people she works with at Awanita Valley were going hiking at White Water Falls in NC, so I went with them. Hiking has been a favorite hobby of mine for a long time, although you wouldn't know it now because I hardly get the opportunity to go, and if you see me, I don't really have the look of a hiker, but I love to do it. So I took a day off and went hiking with some friends.
In the book I've been reading, The Way of the Wild Heart, Elderedge has mentioned that sometimes when he is at a stream or in the woods, God shows him a heart-shaped rock or something like that, to show him that God is constantly wooing him. So, as I hiked and played in the stream above the waterfall, I prayed that God would give me a heart-shaped rock somewhere on the hike to remind me that He is also constantly wooing me. Guess what! I did not find a heart-shaped rock anywhere, and I looked. As I continued to walk and pray, the thought occurred to me (or rather was placed in me) that it's kind of stupid for me to ask God to give me exactly what He gave someone else. God's love is infinite, so it makes sense that He could and would use and infinite amount of ways to show us that He loves us. So I changed my prayer. I prayed that God would show me in whatever way He wanted to that He loves me and is wooing me.
Something came to me a little while later. I don't know if it was God speaking to my heart about my life and about life in general, or if it was just a neat analogy that I thought up (although I find that most of the time I think something is just a neat idea I thought up, it really is God speaking to my heart). Life is like a waterfall. Well, more like the water in a waterfall. For a while, things are smooth. There isn't any turmoil, and it even sometimes seems as though we aren't moving at all. At other times, we come across obstacles in our way, rocks or trees, that make us change our path. Still other times, we go into a free fall and hit the ground pretty hard. At the end of this free fall, I also noticed there a couple of possibilities (which are not choices, but often forced on us). Either we can be pushed forward at the end of the free fall, moving toward other obstacles or smooth times, or we get churned under the water again and again. It's not that we are necessarily making bad choices or not following the Spirit's guidance, but we just get hit by things over and over. Often times, when we are in this churning stage, we don't notice it, but there are other people who are allowed to use us to avoid churning themselves (praise God that our trials can be used not only for our betterment and refinement, but also for that of others). All this is just a crazy thought that ran through my mind yesterday as I stared at the waterfall.
After hiking some more, another thought came to me...no two particles of water in a stream, river, or ocean, ever follow the exact same path, so why should I expect my life to follow exactly how someone else's has. In fact, I should expect that no one has EVER lived their life the way I have lived mine, but that my Almighty Infinite God still has all of our lives mapped our and He is waiting to reveal this map to us.
You are in a position in your life to do something for God that no one else on the planet is in a position to do. You are uniquely created and placed for some work that God wants to do in and through you. Think about it. Pray over it. Believe it.