There Are Times to Stay

We’ve spent a couple years trying to teach our young black lab Kaia to sit at her kennel door until we command otherwise—with limited success. She doesn’t want to wait to move into action.

It has been frustrating, but then I do a similar thing. I often jump headlong into an activity before adequately considering whether I should.

It’s difficult being patient. It’s hard to sit on the sidelines and wait while events unfold. It makes us feel helpless. Taking action gives us a feeling of control, even if it’s a false sense.

I wonder how often I’ve frustrated God by moving when He says stay.

Even with the best intentions, going after something isn’t always wise. Sometimes we need to remain where we are to grow in wisdom, discernment, and strength.  Sometimes it is because someone else is supposed to move on the issue. Sometimes it’s to wait for something better. And sometimes it is to keep us out of danger.

Usually we aren’t prevented from pushing forward. And some good may actually come from our actions.

But we’ll never know the big plan …  God’s plan … the best plan … if we bolt out of the gate like Kaia does.

Being open to God’s leading isn’t easy. Often we don’t know why we need to wait.

But being in His plan means following His lead.

And sometimes that means to simply stay.

But being in God's plan means following His lead. And sometimes that means to simply stay. Share on X

“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).

Share in the Discussion: Have you ever been called to stay when you’re very fiber is burning to move? What helped?

Writing on the prompt “Stay” and linking with the 5-Minute Friday community “Where a beautiful crowd spends five minutes all writing on the same topic and then sharing ‘em over here” (okay, for me it’s 10 or a few more [I can’t even think of my age in 5 minutes:)]):