And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Isaiah 58:11
I got a fantastic Christmas present the other day! I was so excited for my Ihre Weihnachtspyramide from Germany…a Christmas Pyramid. My oldest decided he was going to read the instructions for me, and I was so proud. Those years of studying German were paying off because he was reading them with a fluency that absolutely amazed me! No wonder I was amazed at how well he was doing, he found the English translation.
Anyway, I had seen one of these traditional German decorations years ago, but they aren’t something I encounter often. The history talks about how these were substitutes for Christmas trees. You see, only the wealthy had real trees. Today, we see elaborate Pyramid designs that usually show the birth of Christ, winter scenes, or Christmas themes. They have candles on them that when lit, they create warmth that makes a propeller at the top spin and the pyramid turn.
As I was watching the pyramid (which I thought was just a circle) for several days, I kept thinking how our life is a lot like that. I was feeling like there are times when I just circle around the same issues over and over again…round and round I go, but I was challenged to look at circles in a deeper way. That’s when I started seeing circles everywhere! Keep your eyes open today to see if you can understand what I mean. It’s amazing how they pop out when you’re looking for them.
Here are some of the circles that I was challenged to look a little deeper into, and what I came up with:
Archery Target: Like an archery target, the bullseye is God. It’s what we aim for and keep our eyes on. It isn’t always easy though. We can think of a baby’s bottle. The nipple for the bottle is necessary for a baby to get what is needed to survive and thrive. However, most of the nipple won’t get them what they need. They need to find that tiny opening within that nipple, just like we need to find the one way for us to get nourished.
Orbits of Planets: God is like the sun shining so brightly in the center. Whenever things are going right, we’re like Mercury orbiting the sun. The people in our life are like the other planets. We have our inner circles and outer circles, but when everything is orbiting correctly, no other planet gets between Mercury and the sun. We may keep going in circles like on a track, seemingly getting nowhere. What isn’t seen on the outside is that with every lap, we’re getting stronger inside. As long as we are going in circles with our eyes on God and our ears hearing Him and learning from Him, we’re getting stronger too. This has a lot to do with priorities.
Bohr Model: God is positive like the nucleus in the Bohr model. Like the sun and planets, we want to stay closest to that nucleus. Satan is negative like the negative electrons. We have to be careful that the people around us aren’t being used by Satan to send out his negativity. The negativity will keep them from getting too close to the nucleus. That’s why we have to stay close to the nucleus, so that we can’t get too much negativity that will exhaust us.
We need to be careful who’s closest to us in our inner circles. I’m not saying that we don’t have contact with those who could affect us negatively. I’m saying that we need to move those people into our outer circle where we’ll be able to positively help them, but they won’t pull us away from where we’re heading.
When the negative people in our lives have free contact with us and grasp us during a vulnerable time, it would be easy for us to be turned away from God and to their issues or our “feelings”. It’s like glow in the dark clothing. It needs to be charged from the light first before they’ll glow. Leave it too long away from the light, then it loses its glow. We need to be able to stay charged so we don’t lose our glow when dealing with the challenges.
Electron Cloud: The electron cloud picture made me think of that ride that I stepped into at an amusement park. I was able to walk all around the inside until it started to spin. The centripetal force pulled me further from the center and the “eye of the hurricane” and into an area where I had no control of my body. God is the eye. This is a lot like being around people who are poison to our thoughts because of their thoughts and choices. Too much of that makes their grip on us so strong that moving forward again is almost impossible.
Tunnel: When we first enter a tunnel, it’s scary and dark. We’re uncomfortable. However, our eyes become acclimated quickly to our new surroundings. If we continue on the journey, the dark gives way to a beautiful light. We’re walking into new areas that have been made just for us. It’s worth facing our nerves and unease in order to get to the other side. That other side has unimaginable paths for us. Paths that God has put in place.
The tunnel helps us realize that even though we made it through and gives us more confidence to walk through the next tunnel, it’s not worth facing the dark places again to go back to what we’ve already experienced. You see, the Lord is guiding us in those dark, scary places. He’s making us stronger! We’ll be glowing in His glory as we come out the other side. If we turn back…He’s not there. He’s left our past path and is excited for us to step with Him into our bright future.
Wheels: Wheels go round and round, repeating the same motions over and over again. The important thing is that they aren’t standing still. They are being propelled forward. Also, as wheels turn in circles, they allow the mud to be flung off and become cleaner just like our baggage and negativity can be flung off. This is a lot like water being thrown off during the spin cycle of a washing machine.
Caterpillar: I was told that if you look at a caterpillar from an end, it’s a circle before it turns into a butterfly. Circles transform, transport, and cause you to transcend.
We could find circles and meanings all day long, but what I really believe is that we need to remember that every end has a new beginning. Like a target, let our bullseye be God at the center of our lives. Like the planets, continue to orbit The Son. Like the Bohr Model, don’t let the negativity pull us away from the positivity. Like the Electron Cloud, stay in the eye of the hurricane when the storm is raging all around. Like a tunnel, go through, but don’t go back. When we feel like we’re just going around in circles, let’s remember the wheels that might be turning in circles, but are being propelled forward. Finally, like a caterpillar, transform, transport, and transcend.
I believe that there is a rearrangement going on. People and activities are being put in the best possible place within the circles of our lives. We may start out with our Creator and end with our Creator, but the journey in-between can be an exhausting trip or an exhilarating adventure. We just need to follow God’s guidance in where the proper places for those people, activities, and even our thoughts are put within our circle. Some just may need to be sent to outer space!
During those hard times when you feel like you aren’t getting anywhere and are going around in circles, realize that’s ok! When we’re going in circles, it doesn’t mean we aren’t going forward. Let’s keep our eye on the Lord who will guide us and take care of us. The One who doesn’t fail. The One who has the answers and who will make us strong. The One is He who will transform, transport, and allow us to transcend!
