1709 Taken For Granted

BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

This morning you miraculously woke up to a reality filled with the very things you once prayed for. Really, look around … how much of what you have today was once a prayer? And how much of that has now become so normal, so ordinary, and so totally unimpressive that you fail to recognize it as the answer to your prayers.

Oh, it happens to all of us. We get it and we forget to be grateful after time and eventually we take it for granted. We no longer realize the gift in all we have. Isn’t it crazy how the world turns our blessings into burdens? We get it, then we complain about taking care of it. We get it, then we don’t use it. We get it (you know, the husband, the baby, the new job, the new house), and then we’re stuck with it. Then what?

Have your blessings become burdens? Have you unknowingly taken for granted all you have been given? To “take for granted” means: failing to properly appreciate, especially as a result of over-familiarity. It’s all so familiar, so it’s all unimpressive and goes unappreciated. That’s taking something for granted.

If you’ve ever felt taken for granted, you know precisely what I’m talking about.

Jesus tells us a story of what happens when we take our Father’s provisions and blessings for granted. In short, let me tell you what happens … you end up in a mess of despair after realizing you wasted what you had.

Now maybe you’re like me and you’ve heard this story many times, but you’ve never heard it from a perspective of what you’ve been taking for granted. Listen again. Luke 15: 11-24:

Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

Why did the son leave? Simply because he failed to appreciate what had become so familiar. He was used to waking up in his father’s house. He was used to having food. He was used to having family. And he was bored. Bored, convinced life would be better somewhere else with someone else. So, he left.

And one day, he woke up in the mess he created and all he wished for was for everything he had taken for granted before. He wanted his house back. He wanted his food back. He wanted his family back. And scripture says, “when he finally came to his senses, he returned home.”

As a mama who has been waiting for over 5 years for a precious child to return home, I become hyper focused on the ‘return home’ part of the story. But what about the DON’T LEAVE HOME part of the story? What about the opportunity for us to learn the lesson, acknowledge the blessing, and live in full awareness of it while we have it instead of waiting until it’s threatened.

Some of us have run away, and God wants us to hear him say today, “My girl, I’ve always been waiting for you to return. My arms are wide open for you.” If that’s you, I pray you hear that to the depths of your soul right now and your feet start running back before your head catches on. Get yourself back to God! Remember, if you take one step toward God, he will take a thousand steps towards you. Turn around, Sis. Come on back.

But for most of us, we haven’t run away, we’ve just been drifting. Ever so slowly, we’ve drifted.

Here’s the thing about drifting … you never realize it when it’s happening, and it never takes you anywhere you want to be.

Over time, we no longer wake up excited about life, we’ve started dreading life. Over time, what was new has become old. Over time, what we have is no longer noticed. Over time, the answered prayer has become familiar and unacknowledged.

Really, have you ever lost something and only then realized how precious it really was to you? Have you ever had something taken from you and had to admit you didn’t appreciate it fully when you had it? I’m pretty sure that’s all of us. We’ve learned that lesson first hand. We’ve felt that regret. We’ve wished we could go back and change it. But what if today were our opportunity to change future regret?

What if you woke up today to the day you will want back in 1 year, 5 years, 10 or 20 years. What if this is your miraculous undoing of time?

Imagine that for a moment. At some point in the future, you’ve lost it, but today you’ve been given the priceless gift of going back to when you still had it so you could recognize it, appreciate it, and change how you treat it.

WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THIS?

We recognize the movement of God required to give us that blessing, but what we often miss is the movement of God it required for that blessing to remain! You have no idea what God did to keep that child alive all those years! You have no idea what God protected your marriage from. You have no idea what could have happened with your job or with your house. But because you have no idea, you didn’t wake up absolutely overwhelmed with gratitude for what is still the same today as it was yesterday.

Here’s the danger with the drifting of our gratitude … one day we may be convinced that there’s something better somewhere else, so we go chasing after it. The son had everything he could ever asked for at home with his father. Everything. But he had always had everything, so he failed to recognize the blessing. He didn’t appreciate the blessing until he was hanging out in the pig pin, starving and wishing he could eat the pig’s food. He had to lose it all before he realized he had it all.

My sister, don’t let that be you. What do you have? Don’t wait until you lose it to appreciate it.

Who do you have in your life today that you know you won’t always have? Can you savor them a bit more now? Can you spend intentional time with them? Study their face. Hold their hand. Listen to their voice. Don’t make excuses. Call if you need to, one day you won’t get to.

If you’re able to go to the grocery store and buy food without concern of your debit card being denied, girl, don’t take that for granted. I’m pretty sure I’m still scarred from our years of financial struggle where every swipe of my card came with a prayer, “please Lord, let it go through.” That scar serves as a reminder to me today – girl never take for granted that you can now buy those groceries! He’s still answering that prayer … every time the purchase goes through and those groceries go home with me!

God allows us to get a few scars. Scars that remind us of how bad it was and how he came through for us. Scars that keep me from running off thinking somewhere else is going to better than where I am.

It’s a hard balance … how do you know when God is calling you to go because you’ve settled … and when God is telling you to stay where he has brought you. There’s a difference, but how do you know which one you’re in?

I asked God that exact question this morning, and here’s the answer he gave me:

“Wherever you are, if you will continually live in awe and wonder of all I am doing for you, my child, you will know where I am leading. You will see my hand when you look for it. Sometimes I will call you to follow me and go in faith to more. Sometimes I will direct you to stay and graze in the green pastures where you already are. You will know when you’re not drifting.”

YOU WILL KNOW WHEN YOU’RE NOT DRIFTING. As long as you’re drifting you will always be confused. You will always be uncertain. You will always wonder … until you crash.

Drifting is what causes our problems. Drifting is when you don’t see the reality of what’s around you. You don’t see where you are and where you’re going. You’re checked out. You’re not paying attention. Then you crash. You crash because you become untethered from where you were supposed to be, or you stopped intentionally going in the direction you were supposed to go.

When you drift, that’s what has happened. You either lost your tether or you lost your intention.

Lord, please show us where we have become untethered from you. Show us where we have drifted away from your plan. Wake us up to see all we already have so don’t waste it while we have it.

God, show us where we are drifting without intention into harmful waters. Help us to see where this leads and the regret it will bring. Give us the courage and strength to pick up the oar and move with intention once again. Intentionally seeking your way.

Just as the prodigal son, when we take for granted all our father has given us, we drift. All we ever have to do is come back to the awe and wonder of what God is doing and we will see his hand. He will welcome us back. He will celebrate us with a party!

Look around … the party is here already. Blessing upon blessing. Answered prayers from 20 years ago are still your reality today. How absolutely incredible that God has held all of that together for you! Now, don’t take it for granted.

Imagine this is your return ticket to a day of life when you still had it to enjoy. What are you going to do with this? I know … I’m going to practice not taking it for granted.

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