“To have [an expectant] posture, to believe that ‘there are far better things ahead than any we leave behind.’ requires a present mind that isn’t determined to overcome our limitations, isn’t fixed on them. . . . We start to expect that what is within reach, not what is out of reach, is going to be good. So good.”- Sara Hagerty
Sara Hagerty concludes Chapter 1 of The Gift of Limitations as she talks about two things that keep us from God-inspired expectancy:
- a life fixed on too much of what we don’t want, or
- not enough of what we so deeply desire.
Therefore, Sara exhorts, we need to believe in this moment. Because we know who God is and who we are. And at this place the end of you meets the beginning of God. Above all, Sara underscores:
“Trust creates a powerful ability to be present, and being present to the small moments reinforces the trust that enabled it. . . . Could being present to all these moments be the holy small that reflects the peace that comes when I trust? And trust eclipses the fence line. It doesn’t eradicate it but casts a light that makes our experience of it different.”
Most significantly, when we study the fence and look far into the distance, we crave Jesus. In addition, we reach for those ‘far better things ahead.’
In conclusion, Sara notes, we sow the reality of what we desperately want to believe. Yet that only seems to work in the movies. Furthermore, we know what the Bible says about God’s plans and future for us. However, we hedge our bets, choosing to live as our own landlords. Thus, we manage and monitor the property lines.
So, Sara encourages and wonders:
“There is a limitlessness, an answer to the bubbling over desire for what we don’t have. . . . But to receive it, to walk in it, . . we have to take a closer look at the fence line. . . . What if this fence line is protecting me and you? What if it’s a gift? A deposit, directing our eyes to the now and to the far better things ahead?”
Today’s question: What’s your posture toward the far better things ahead? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Our fence lines = captivity?”
