Flying into Skylights

Last week I encountered a dragonfly trying to fly through a skylight. We've all seen something similar: an insect or animal trapped by a devious, clear obstacle even though there is a seemingly obvious way to escape. In this case, the skylight is part of the roof over our apartment building's outdoor stairway. The dragonfly needed only to fly down the short roof line and she would've been free to go wherever she wanted. However, upon returning from some errands, I noticed she had lost her battle and was now lifelessly staring out the skylight. For some reason, this everyday event stuck with me, so for those of you still reading this, be prepared for a little soul searching.

We, as logical, intelligent, perspective-claiming human beings, see this dragonfly and wonder why she keeps flying full force into the window instead of navigating herself toward freedom, but I wonder how often we are the ones doing the futile flying. We see what we think we want and we move to fulfill that desire by the shortest route possible. Yet we fail, time and time again. We either can't see or refuse to admit that we may have to fly down to fly up. We either can't trust or refuse to let go to let the One with eternal perspective guide us toward true freedom.

Last week I met with my second temp agency in hope of ending my season of unemployment. Inevitably, as is their responsibility, they asked me the question I've dreaded answering for the last four years: "So what is it you'd like to do?" By this time, I have decent answer to give; however, it is still far easier to explain what I do not want to do:
1. I do not want to work in a call center. (Sorry, Nate. Your skills surpass mine. :-)
2. I do not want to waste the talents I've been given.
3. I do not want to be that dragonfly.