Don't Squander the Wander!

Available. Great word. Even greater when applied to something you desperately want or need.

Available takes provision, time, and attention. All of which we need a bunch more of, in every direction, in every situation. Availability is a commodity we can’t live without, and can’t seem to find enough of.

In every season of life the availability of the urgent weaves into the equation before we can stop it.

We go through times when we are focused on what is available for us. In our need. In our moment. Why isn’t such and such available right now! For me! Like yesterday! We just can’t wait. We are blinded by our sense of need for availability, when we keep our eyes on self.

Really though, we survive quite well regardless of the provision or lack thereof. Time just keeps ticking by. Way too fast. Seasons of life find a way to reveal this in the most obvious ways.

See, in the folly of youth, we may have plenty of time to waste, but no money to go where we want to. Available means we can say yes in an instant to the next great idea from our tribe. Hopefully these ideas are for our good. Available doesn’t always equate to the right choice for us.

Ask me how I know. Alas, the grace of God covers all.

Then kids, beautiful kids, might just skew our sense of availability in a whole new level. Sleep, hours in the day, etc. are all fleeting memories, but no worries, these things will return in time. Our lives become wrapped around being available for this next generation we are raising. And, dear friend, there is no more meaningful thing we can do on this earth than be there for our kids and raise them with the love and nurturing they need. If you are knee deep in this right now, rest assured, you are making a difference. Its worth it.

At the peak of career and life and accomplishments, availability is just a word we used to know, as we juggle all the things pressing us and our schedules. Meetings and activities and plans and status can take the wind out of our availability sails.

Suddenly, our identity, if we aren’t careful, becomes tethered to the busy list and the number of hours we aren’t available for the ones we love. Sure, we don’t say it that way. We call it business meetings, billable hours, positions and promotions. All these things take our minutes, hours, and if we aren’t careful, our years. Before we know it, we are looking at this mirage called retirement, and find ourselves trying to figure out who we are minus all those lists and workplace challenges that left us unavailable for anything else. Including us.

As the years roll on, and we say goodbye to the cubicle, and our schedule clears, God does an amazing thing in our lives. Suddenly, our availability changes.

We become available to the person looking back at us in the mirror.

And our spouse.

And our family.

And most importantly, to the Lord we love.

We find time to pray, because we have time.

We cultivate the art of being available.

We can wait that extra day for our delivery to the doorstep. We have no problem changing our schedule to accommodate the busy ones in our midst. We might even be ok if we have to change the brand of our toothpaste if our favorite is out of stock. Available is what we are, so available applies to a different layer of life.

Learning to let the Spirit guide you into the next place, on the right day, for His perfect plan takes being available. Honestly, I’m still in the growth process with this. Honestly, we all are. But, friend, I gotta say, when we are available for the detours God has placed in our lives, its overwhelmingly good.

So no matter what season you find yourself in today,

whether all time and no money,

all kids and no sleep,

or all business and no balance,

hang in there.

Ask the Lord to make little moments for you to be available for His purpose. Even if its rocking your little one back to sleep at 3am. Or forging a friendship in the workplace. Or taking a few minutes to just listen to your spouse, to dream together, and love well. Or lingering somewhere to say hi to someone who desperately needs a hug. Whatever it might be.

God is able to use whatever sense of available you are willing to give. Best part? He is in the multiplication business. He can take your little bit of available and do big, big things. For His glory.