Confidence

"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." - Philippians 1:6

There are things that I desire in my life.  Not things like that cute moppy dog I want so badly or the baby grand piano I'm sure would look fabulous in my new house in Birmingham.   Different things.  Things that are desires of my heart that I did not choose, but that were placed there by Someone who knows me better than I know myself.  Someone who can see the entire picture instead of just the limited perspective I have.  Someone who doesn't just want me to have a fluffy walking companion or a beautiful new piano, but who wants me to fill the measure of my creation and live up to a divine potential I can't even fathom most days.  

My heart longs to sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  I will never be content just listening to them.  I want to sing with them.  I didn't put that longing there.  My head would never have chosen such a lofty goal, and it often still doesn't believe I'm capable of ever accomplishing something so enormous.  And as we keep moving further away from Utah, my chances of being in the Tab appear to be growing logistically less and less likely.  Nevertheless, the desire is there as much today as it was years ago when I first heard that magnificent choir.     

My heart longs for other strange and seemingly unlikely things that I also didn't choose, but that have become like beacons of light drawing me toward people and opportunities which would otherwise never have crossed my path.  Rural photography.  Viral missionary efforts.  The entire continent of Africa.  And a handful of other things that seem impossibly out of my reach.  But yet, there they still are...inspiring me, motivating me, and pushing me toward progress and refinement.  

That scripture in Philippians is a hopeful reminder that if He put those strange and improbable desires in my heart, then He must have a plan for me to achieve them.  That even when I grow restless and tire of longing for the same things year after year, if I am patient, if I stay close to the Spirit, and if I listen for further instruction, I won't ever have to manipulate situations or run around trying to force things to happen.  I can simply trust that if He "began a good work" in me, "He will perform it" until it is complete.  And His completion surely will look even more amazing than anything I've imagined in my head.  

...and hopefully along the way, however long the journey, I'll acquire a few helpful attributes that will come in handy when I get to that place of completion.