Instant Gratification

Yesterday the sermon at Buckhead church was on the subject of temptation and Andy used the illustration of the experiment where children are placed alone in a room with a plate of cookies and told that if they wait and do not eat them right then, that in 10 minutes they will receive double the amount of cookies. It is amazing to me how God will speak right to my heart...I had seen a video of that experiment several years ago and was thinking about it last week (before I knew anything of this sermon) and was applying it to my life right now...there are so many things and situations in my life where I want to rush ahead and make things happen and have any of the many question marks of my life answered. I experienced a time in my life when I would give in to instant gratification and know how empty that is when in the middle of it...but when faced with having to practice patience and TRUST in Jer 29:11, I feel like that kid in the room facing a plate of warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies (and a tall glass of cold milk is sitting nearby) and all I want to do is grab with both hands and do my best impersonation of Cookie Monster. What was convicting was hearing the wisdom Andy shared...that there is always more at risk than we may realize...and that will stop you dead in your tracks...what I am a possibly sacrificing with this decision? What will grabbing that particular cookie mean to me down the road?

"We are born with a lingering hunger
We are born to be unsatisfied
We are strangers who can't help but wander
And dream about the other side of?"

"Someday all that's crazy,
All that's unexplained
Will fall into place,
And someday all that's hazy
Through a clouded glass,
Will be clear at last

And sometimes we're just waiting,
For someday"

Someday ~ Nicole Nordeman