Disneyland and You: Both Still a Work in Progress

Here, on the very first day of 2013, we look ahead to a new year and reflect on the year just past. We’ve changed. We will change (intentionally or not).

 

Walt Disney said, “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.” From the beginning, he planned for change. His overall goal and vision for the Park didn’t change, but over time he would mold it and reshape it so it came closer and closer to that vision.

 

In Philippians, Paul tells us that God takes the same approach to us. “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.“

 

From the day you were born, He has been continually working to bring you closer and closer to that ideal, to being like His Son. That day will come. It won’t be fully realized until the day we are finally united with Him in person in Heaven, but each day has the potential for us to grow.

 

Change is inevitable, but we crave stability, too. In the case of Disneyland, that stability existed in the person of Walt Disney. As long as he was around guiding, making decisions, and leading, the growth was in a single direction. Sure, there were differences in approach, and sometimes something he tried didn’t work. But the specific project, attraction, or idea wasn’t the point. The overall growth and identity of Disneyland was.

 

In our case, that stability comes from God. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Sometimes changes are difficult, and sometimes they don’t work out as we’d originally hoped or planned. Unlike Disney, though, God is not surprised when something seems to not work. He doesn’t have to try something else because one idea went badly. He sees the whole picture.

 

And, like Disney, the specific activity or circumstance isn’t the point. Your growth and your identity in Christ is. It’s much more “big picture” than we’re used to thinking, but it may help as you look ahead to this year and look back at the previous one.

 

Consider each of your recent successes and failures, how ever you define each, and ask yourself this question:

 

“Let’s say that God custom designed that situation for my growth—that this was exactly what I need to move to the next level, to become more like Christ and live my purpose more fully. If that is true, what was (or is) God doing through this?”

 

The answer to that question will go a long way towards making this year your best year ever. Not necessarily because you make more money, get a better job, find the perfect mate, or travel somewhere you’ve always wanted to go—though any of those may happen. It will be your best year ever because you’re more consciously aware of what God is doing in your life and enable you to work with Him. You’ll be looking for what He’s doing, and the more you look the more you’ll see.

 

Have a blessed 2013.

 

Question: How do you seen God making you more like Jesus in 2012? Talk about it in the comments below, or on our Facebook page.