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How many times have you desired something, looked forward to something or planned for something, only to have that something never materialize?  Never experiencing that which you have desired, planned for or expected?  Only to realize, maybe after a considerable amount of time, that what you did actually experience was so much better than that which you desired in the first place?

You know what it’s like to experience something that seems, in the moment, counter to all that you desire, dream of or hope for.  Only to later realize that what you did experience was so much better than what you wanted to experience.  A move that you dreaded, only to later realize that it was the best move that you could have made.  A relationship that ended, only to later realize that this end opened the door for you to meet the person of your dreams.  A disappointing change of plans, that you later realized turned out to be some of your most precious memories.

The fact that this sort of thing happens in your life, all the time, isn’t a question. For this sort of thing happens in all of our lives, all the time.  The question for you is: Can I learn from my past experiences and stay open to change? 

Not only has this sort of thing happened to you in the past, it will happen again to you in the future.  Tomorrow you will have desires and you will make plans for what you want to do, where you want to go and who you want to be.  Yet, history has already proven that some of those desires are going to change.  Since this is your reality, you need to start preparing now for how you will stay open to the fact that change is coming.

Proverbs 19:2 puts it this way:

Desire without knowledge is not good – how much more will hasty feet miss the way.

Is there anything wrong with desire?  Not at all.  Desire is the very thing that gets you out of bed every morning.  It’s the very thing that pushes you to learn and grow, to achieve and overcome.  Desire is a very good thing. 

Desire is the only thing that God will never mess with.  You and you alone control your desire.  God desires for you to desire to be all that God has created you to be.  Yet, God will never override your free will to desire anything you want.  Even if that desire takes you far away from God. 

That’s why this Proverb teaches that desire must be combined with knowledge.  For desire without knowledge is simply energy that is focused in the wrong direction.  Desire without knowledge will cause you to quickly (and passionately) “miss the way”. 

One of the wrong directions, into which you desire, is your inability to see change as the only constant in your life.  You desire to be the Lord and Savior of your own life.  Instead of knowing that you play a part in the grand scheme of things.  You have a roll in God’s divine masterpiece, called Life.  God, being the producer and director, must sometimes make changes to your part.  These changes, though tough to stomach in the moment, are for the benefit of the entire production.   

Your inability to be flexible, roll with the punches, to follow; fully knowing that what you are about to experience just might be better than what you desired in the first place, is simply a lack of knowledge.  Yet, you know that change is the only constant in life.  So, why is it that you ignore this knowledge about change? 

Because deep down, you desire to be god.  You desire to be in total control of everything and everyone.  You are missing the way, because you refuse to acknowledge that you have not created the way and that you don’t control the way.  You have a part in the play.  You aren’t the play.  You are a follower. 

Once you fully embrace your follower part in the play, you will be open to the possibility of change.  You will no longer need to control everything and everyone.  In fact, you will start to see everything and everyone as holding the possibility of something better.  Dare I say, you will start to desire to be a follower and not a god.  And that is truly the knowledge that will keep you from missing the way.