Reach For the Feelings you long to feel

​Life can make it easy to believe that feelings are rather random. They arrive from out of the blue and then we in turn respond to them.

Believing that, especially if there are feelings we long to feel, makes it easy to settle into a waiting game. We begin living life at the bus stop of feelings, waiting for ours to arrive, waiting until we eventually start wondering, dejected, did I purchase the wrong ticket?

What if we don't have to wait? What if we have more power to create the feelings we want to feel than we sometimes acknowledge?

I delivered a presentation yesterday. To be honest, I didn't feel like delivering it. I was tired and a little worn down. But what motivated me to show up wasn't a pep talk: get it in gear, Keith. It was the feeling of connection I knew I'd feel once I had delivered the presentation.

And I did feel that.

When I got home from the presentation, the last thing I wanted to do was go to the gym. I really didn't feel like it. What motivated me to show up wasn't a pep talk: get your butt to the gym, Keith. It was the feeling of being energized I knew I'd feel once I finished my workout.

And I did feel that.

Sometimes I don't feel very grateful toward God. I don't feel like raising my hands toward him and saying thank you when there are some things in my life I've asked him to tend to that still feel very unattended to. But I raise my hands anyways.

Motivated by obligation? Commandment?

No, I do it because I want to feel attended to. I want to feel God's promise that just as he has been there before, he is there now, leaving absolutely nothing unattended to.

I want to feel grateful in spite of my ungratefulness. And so I raise my hands, and feel so thankful for God in my life.

Maybe stop waiting at the bus stop for the feelings to show up you long to show up and go raise your hands and grab hold of them.

Feelings do come and go, but we have a lot more say in what those feelings are than we often acknowledge. The result, then, is too often living under the control of our feelings instead of the other way around.

Trust me, I know changing that's easier understood than implemented, but it starts with something as simple as raising your hands.

If you're looking for a feeling today, try raising your hands.