The first night home after training camp I watched Wall-E in an effort to not go to bed at 6 pm. (I didn’t want to wake up at 4 am!) Let me tell you what happened in those 90 minutes.
My heart and mind are still processing everything training camp. I ask God to make His truth clear for understanding and embed it in my deepest parts. Then I listen as I watch the cute robot movie.
By the end of the movie I knew 6 things clearly:
1. It sucks to be alone.
2. Real love ruins lives.
3. Everyone will have to be carried some time.
4. Dancing is good.
5. There is a time to wait & a time to work.
6. Ignorance is a choice.
Let me break down what I mean by each of those and let you know how they relate to Jesus.
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5. There is a time to wait & a time to work.
Wall-E has to wait quite a bit in this movie. He has to wait when Eve shuts down after finding the plant. Then Eve tells him to wait as she fixes the plant problem. Finally he has to wait for Eve to fix him after he is almost destroyed.
There are many times when waiting is appropriate. Even when others around you are working, you might be in a season of waiting. Waiting is a valid form of work.
One of the team building activities we completed was building a tent while blindfolded. At first 4 of us could see and we had to send 2 blind teammates around the area to find all the scattered tent pieces. Then the 4 of us were blind and the 2 had to walk us through building the tent.
I was directed to put out the footprint (the part that goes under the tent to protect the tent floor from the ground). Then I was told to wait. So I hunkered down at one corner and waited.
I didn’t enjoy the waiting but it was useful. I wanted to be working. I wanted to be doing all the things that the rest were doing. I didn’t want to just wait.
But in the waiting God met me. He spoke this truth to me: sometimes you need to just hold the corner down. I think I finally understand what He meant.
Sometimes waiting in trust is the most beautiful form of worship. Being ready but not running ahead of God is the perfect place to be. Don’t waste the waiting time trying to figure out future or past work; use it to build intimacy with the Spirit.
We all have times of waiting in our lives. I’m in one now. I’m waiting to leave on this crazy journey God has called me to. I just left a season of waiting on what was next in my life.
In this time of waiting I have the choice to cling to the past and reevaluate everything, dream of the future and try to plan for every eventuality, or run to Jesus and use this time to build our relationship. I don’t always make the right choice, but I’ve learned to not waste times of waiting on wishes or regrets. Waiting is designed for the work of preparation and deeper intimacy.
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6. Ignorance is a choice.
All the humans is Wall-E choose ignorance daily. They are all plugged in and tuned out. They are ignorant of their bodies, their surroundings, and each other.
At training camp I realized some places in my life where I has chosen ignorance. I had just refused to go deeper or learn more so that I didn’t have to deal with the consequences of what I learned.
I’m still walking through this process of throwing out ignorance, but I’ve learned a few things. The key components are prayer, faith, and obedience
Big, bold, devastatingly honest prayer will bring to light the ignorance in your life. I learned how to pray in confidence and boldness and with honesty. I prayed, “God, show me my ignorance,” in faith and He did.
I had to have faith that God would show me. I also had to have faith that whatever He brought to light was for my betterment because He loved me. That was the harder part to believe.
Obedience helped my unbelief. Once God brought into light things I had been hiding from, I had a choice. I could choose to ignore it or grow from it. I chose to grow. In that obedience I saw the good that God had for me as His beloved.
So as I go forward I will ask for the courage to continue to pray, “God, show me.” It’s not an easy prayer to pray. It is usually a forerunner to change. But I would rather change for Jesus than live in ignorance against Him.
