November 7, 2020
In quaint Manoa on the island of Oahu sits a cute little chocolate shop. The shop reminds me of those homes in Cape Cod with their short white fences, French-style windows, and sunny yellow exteriors. The shop is called Choco Le'a. Their mission is to bring peace to the world one chocolate at a time. Isn't that beautiful!
For Halloween, I ordered a few boxes to share with friends and to add a little sweetness to my life. I'm very fond of dark chocolate! So after I dropped off a box to a friend, I came home with great anticipation to open my own box of beautiful chocolates. Choco Le' a's packaging is gorgeous. The little box is a keepsake, with its peaceful dove gracing the top of the warm chocolate brown colored folded box. When you unfold the top, it appears again against a Tiffany blue colored background. Nestled in this little box were 9 chocolates, all neatly arranged in their beds of delicate white corrugated paper. I couldn't remember the last time I'd actually opened a box of chocolates and couldn't wait to try one. I reached for one that looked like a rose. As I bit into it, I could taste cookies and cream. Delicious! As the night went along, I chose another one and was delighted with its flavor. Each time I chose a chocolate from the box, I did not know what I was going to find inside. You see, there was a little white folded piece of paper that I'd put to the side after I'd opened the box. I'd forgotten all about it. Inside were pictures and descriptions of each chocolate.
The excitement I felt with each surprise filling made me so happy. It wasn't until afterward when I found the little booklet that I realized just how much fun I had being surprised by what I would taste next. It is that kind of excited anticipation that God wants from us. The excitement from not knowing where He is leading us. There are days when I would love some certainty in my life. Where I could pick up the little folded booklet and read what was on the agenda for the day with confidence. Oswald Chambers writes in his book, My Utmost for His Highest,
"We have no idea of where or how God is going to engineer our life circumstances."
For someone like me, that can be quite daunting, but then I remember that when I trust God and show up with a heart full of anticipation, life can ebb and flow like the waves of the ocean, and I will not be afraid. Trusting in Him and remembering that,
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV
It is His purpose for my life that brings meaning to it. I might not like everything that I discover or encounter, but I trust that each God-given moment helps me move along the path he has set out for me.
So the next time you buy or receive a box of chocolates, don't read the descriptions. Instead, choose with excited anticipation! Remember what Forest Gump said, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get."
Dear Lord,
Please help us to show up each day with a heart of great anticipation for what you have in store for our lives. Teach us to trust in you and your ways. Remind us that you are there with us in the most challenging times, and you are there in the joyous ones. Thank you that we can lean on not our own understanding but yours. For your ways are higher.
In Jesus Name, Amen.
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