Free to Follow

Excerpted from a column that was first published in the January 2018 issue of Chapel Hill News and Views magazine.

When I turn the pages of a new, large, month-by-month calendar, I marvel at all the freedom I have to choose what lies before me. As of that moment, there are no appointments or tasks written on it. The landscape of the months ahead is like a blank canvas.      

As the days pass, I, like a landscape painter, choose what to add to that wonderful white space. I fill it with appointments and things to do. In the margins, I make notes and scribble phone numbers and other essential information.

Then, when it’s time to turn the page to a new month, I sigh as I see that I’ve already filled in many of the daily spaces. I no longer have pristine pages to marvel at. I no longer am as awed by my freedom to choose. I no longer spend as much time prayerfully considering what God wants me to do with all those days He is giving me as I’d spent between the ending of the previous year and the beginning of the current one.

Instead, I often feel overwhelmed by all the appointments and tasks already awaiting me. And I know that I’ll add more, more, and more as the months move along. With a sigh, I methodically begin to do whatever is on schedule for a particular day.

But this year, I yearn to avoid filling up precious hours with my plans. I long to leave lots of white spaces so that I can be free to do whatever He asks me to do as I talk with Him at the beginning of each day -- and throughout the day, as well.

My desire to remain flexible in order to give His plans priority over mine increased after I read I Come Quietly to Meet You, which is a collection of devotionals written by Amy Carmichael (1867-1951).

Amy’s devotional entitled “Entanglements” helped me realize I am guilty of having too many entanglements, too many worldly things that allure me more than spiritual ones.

After several days of reading and reflecting on Amy’s words, I woke up one morning thinking about the phrase “free to follow.” I eagerly got up and began searching the Scriptures for verses that contained the word follow.

As I read the many references, I realized that the people who were given specific assignments were going about their ordinary tasks when they received the divine call to “follow.”

For example, Peter and Andrew were casting their fishing nets into the water. James and John, along with their father, were mending their nets. Matthew was working at his tax collection booth. (For details, read chapters 4 and 9 in the Gospel of Matthew.)

When Jesus said to them, “Follow Me,” they immediately stopped what they were doing and followed Him, despite their plans for that day.

I pray that you and I will willingly let go of our plans in order to say yes to Him, that we will be free to follow Him wherever and however He leads us.

 © 2018 by Johnnie Ann Gaskill