Chasing Flies

Today I spent more time than I care to mention chasing a giant fly around my house, trying to usher it out the back door.  I finally got it corralled between the sliding doors and kept tapping on the screen, not letting it settle into peaceful stagnation before it had found its way outside.  I found myself getting frustrated that it was taking so long.  I thought at one point that maybe I should just kill it.  I'm not morally opposed to killing flies.  I've ruthlessly eliminated their annoying buzz from my home for years.  I probably will again.  But for whatever reason, today I really wanted that fly to find freedom.  You see, it was a winter fly.  You may not know, but flies often come back to life.  In the cold of fall and winter they fall, seemingly dead, in secluded corners or, as is often the case at my house, in between the windows and the screens.  If you're a lackadaisical window cleaner like me, they stay there throughout the cold season, and sometimes, when the weather warms up, they do too.  And they come back to life.  I couldn't quite bring myself to kill this tiny miracle, because even though my analytical mind tells me that the fly was just hibernating, the idea that a creature could live in the in between space of life and death for so long and then suddenly spring forth with vibrant life IS a miracle.  I just couldn't squash it.  Even when my three year old was begging me to get it before it got him.  Even when I was frustrated that it wasn't doing what I wanted it to do, what I knew was really going to be best for it.  Now in the grand scheme of things, a fly's lifespan is not that long.  Who knows how many days (hours?) this poor fly has to live.  But today, I didn't feel like it was up to me.  Today, I related to how that fly came to life in the warm rays of the sun, and I marveled at the not so tiny miracle of something once dead finding new life, having the chance to fulfill its purpose on this earth.  And I prayed that I move as determinedly toward my purpose as that fly does and that God will continue to nudge me, and cajole me and usher me along the way.  And I pray the same for you.


Reading
Ephesians 2: 1, 5-10
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins
⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

1.  In what way are we like that poor fly, dead in a windowsill? 
2.  What does God think of complacency and stagnation in our lives?
3.  How do you overcome complacency and stagnation when you recognize them in yourself?
4.  How open are you to God's plan and purpose for you?  Are you willing to follow Him?