Process vs. Product

With the amount of things God teaches me as I'm running, you'd think I'd be really skinny. 

Anywho...recently, as I was running, I was thinking about transportation. I was going kinda fast, for me, and I thought "how fast is a speeding bullet?" Strange thought I know, but nevertheless...I was thinking that you can get to the same destination using a variety of different ways. It really just depends on what you are looking to experience. 

For example...

by plane - quick, you have very little scenery unless you love looking at other people (which I do), not much responsibility (unless you are flying with children)

by car - slower, lots of scenery (that you won't see since you are driving), lots of responsibility

by train - sometimes slow, sometimes fast depending on stops and such, lots of scenery, very little responsibility

by boat - slow, scenery is totally dependable on where you are going and very little responsibility

So all of these would get you to the same spot but the process of getting there would be so different. I am totally a process person. It takes me going through something to understand it. I'm not so good at just being told something and figuring it out. Like...my husband tried to explain a new running path to me. I had no idea what he was talking about even though I've traveled the streets tons of times. But when I did the process myself...I figured it out. Same thing with crafts. If someone just hands me the product of the greeting card, I'm suppose to make, I can't figure it out. But if they walk me through the process, step by step, I figure it out. 

So what does all this mean? You, whom have made it through all my rambling till this point, are asking yourselves the same thing. God knows this about me (and He knows your needs for process too.) He knows I need process to really understand. He can just make it so I can have baby right now. But He isn't doing that...why? Well...there are probably tons of answers but the one I really have come to understand is that I'm in process. He has me figuring out some major stuff. And if I was just to be given a baby right now, I wouldn't be figuring it all out. So I think God has me on a run. Not on the run, but on a run through the course He needs me to take. The product is the same (cause I truly believe some day I will have a healthy baby) but the process is uniquely selected just for me. My run is taking me through great scenery on some days. Just rainy days on others. Up hills on some and down long slopes on others. He lets me speed up and lets me slow down. He allows me to feel like my legs are as light as feathers and some days He allows me to feel like I'm pulling cement along in my shoes. Some days the i-Pod is fully charged and blaring some great music. Some days the only thing I hear is my son asking questions about the path. 

But the process is where I find Him. I can get through all the scenery and yucky weather cause He sees me and gives me strength "the eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him." 2 Chronicles 16:9

So in my commitment to being on this run and in process even on the cold, rainy, up hill days...I say, "Ehh..." and remember that He has a specific product in mind for me. Whether that is a kid or not I know it will be for His glory and my good. "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 I pray you would know that too. No matter what mode of transportation God has you on, He has a destination in mind for you. I pray you would trust in His path, not try to veer off or hitch hike, but to go through the process with God as your traveling companion.