I'm not sure if other people do this, but I seem to always think ahead about things. It might be a meal, or an event, or a meeting. I usually have a thought in my mind as to what the event will be like, or what the food will be like. Its almost as if I play the event out in my head before it ever happens.
I guess I don't do it every single time, but I do it quite often. Let me give you an example. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet my friends pastor(s) up in Seattle. He had been telling me about them for about a year. We had talks over coffee about his church, the pastors, the plan for their church.
So yesterday, I happened to be in Seattle, and I dropped by the church. Now here's the interesting part- I had never met these guys before, but I already had an expectation in my mind of
1. What they looked like
2. What their personality was like
3. What our first interaction would be like.
Here's the score for the pre-emptive strike- zero out of three. Neither one of them looked what I thought they would look like. The personality wasn't anything like I thought and the interaction was nothing like I thought it was going to be. The good news is that it was a great first meeting!
What's my point? I think other people do this also. They set expectations for things before they ever happen. This usually results in being let down, or being angry, or not allowing the event to just unfold into what it is supposed to be.
For some reason people have this innate need to want to make sense of things. To want to understand and comprehend something prior to it happening. I think it gives us comfort knowing what we're getting into, but here's the problem- we end up putting people and God in a box and restricting what He may be trying to show us or give us.
When we set things up in our mind before it ever happens, it limits the ability for God to be able to move in the situation because we may have possibly predetermined a course of action that may not be what he had intended for us.
Lets quit trying to make it all make sense before we get into it, let it unfold, and watch what God will do in the midst of it. I think what you'll find is that God always works out the details, if we'll step back and let him.
Be blessed today
matt
Good word. Alot of the time people can do this(picturing an event before it happens) and syke themselves out of something good. Playing the answer to the question they never ask in thier head and getting a no when if they actually ask it they may be suprised. On a side note, I always picture what my potential client looks like when I'm talking on the phone. When they send in thier documents or come in with them, I'm wrong about 99% of the time.
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