When you're stuck everything starts to look the same

​I never thought I'd be here quoting the folk/pop/country singer Jewel. But I was running yesterday and the song "Standing Still" came on. The lyrics struck me as brilliant.

Most people, whether they believe in the biblical story of Moses or not, know the story. We are left with this image of a giant figure of a man, his arms spread confidently wide and the Red Sea parting on his command.

What we don't often reflect on in that story is how many excuses Moses tried to give God before he actually stood there in command of the waters.

When God first appeared to Moses in a burning bush to charge him with freeing the Israelites from Egyptian captivity, Moses tried to convince God of the following:

◾ I'm not good enough
◾ I don't have all the answers
◾ People won't believe me
◾ I'm a terrible public speaker
◾ I'm not qualified

Here was God, his voice booming from a bush on fire that, by the way, wasn't actually burning up. It just burned an ongoing flame while God tried to convince Moses he was the man for the job. You'd think a burning and talking bush would be all the confidence builder one would need.

In Jewel's song, she wonders out loud - am I standing still? Or is it possible that was you on the side of the road as I was passing by?

Jewel made me wonder about me.

How often does my life feel like it's standing still because I miss the signs that are meant to lead me and guide me? How many times do I focus on the dead end on the left side of the road and miss the burning bush - thinking one is no more significant than the other.

When you're stuck - standing still - everything starts to look the same.

When you're committed to making excuses for why you can't move forward, for why you can't make it through the darkest night, for why it feels like you're suddenly stuck in the twilight of life and not in the heart of it, the voice booming from the burning bush really can begin to sound like just another voice.

Often, moving through life but going nowhere can feel like standing still. And when we're standing still, it's easy to blame life for not showing up when in reality life kept showing up in a burning bush. It kept showing up, and out of a lifelong habit we instinctively made excuses for why that can't possibly be a burning bush.

Sometimes it's easier to stand still. I get that. We just need to know that when we aren't able to part the waters in our lives, it's not because life didn't show up. It's because when it did we chose to ignore it. We ignored it then wondered forever - was that you?

When life shows up to tell us we can - often we've just gotten way too good at instinctively responding I can't. We've gotten way to comfortable feeling like life is just standing still.

If you hear a voice come from a burning bush today. Stop. Just stop and listen. And standing still, life might suddenly feel like it's moving again.