Assigned Seating

Remember when you were in middle school and your teacher assigned where you would sit?  Usually this was after being allowed to pick our own seats, and we would sit next to our best friends and talk the whole time during class.  Then we would have to be broken up so we could actually pay attention. 

Then we went to the cafeteria and we had to find a place to sit and eat.  Some of us with our friends, others of us as loners or outcasts. 

Then we got older and we went to work and our boss would walk us to our desk or office and tell us this is where we will be stationed. 

Then we got savvy and decided we wanted to travel and we picked our seats beforehand to assure we got the window or aisle seat (because no one truly likes the middle). 

There is something chaotic about the idea that we can sit wherever we want.  It adds a bit of pressure to any situation that we must make a decision here and what does that decision say about me? What if I choose the wrong seat?  Now, back in high school, this could make or break your “coolness” factor.  But even today, as adults, we still struggle with this same question.  It is worded differently, but it still carries the same anxieties.  What if I choose the wrong job?  What if I choose the wrong spouse?  What if I choose the wrong house?

I get so frazzled when I have to make a decision that I welcome the idea of assigned seating – assigned anything really.  When I worked at Hertz Rental Car, we had uniforms.  Great, one less thing off my plate, I knew what I was wearing every day.  People who have uniforms, know what I’m talking about.  It’s a stress reliever that you don’t have to come up with a nice outfit that matches and flatters your figure.  All you have to do is make sure it’s clean.  It takes 10 minutes to get dressed in the morning. 

Assigned parking spaces are lovely as well.  You don’t have to figure out where you’re going to park.  Hopefully, you get to work early enough that you don’t have to park in the boondocks somewhere and walk half a mile to get to the building.    

I have great news about this journey called life – It’s assigned too.  I am about to share with you my favorite Bible verse in the entire Bible.  I have tons of memorized scripture in my heart, and it would be very difficult to pick a favorite, but I have and here it is:

“Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.  The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.  I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.  I have set the Lord always before me.  Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”  Psalm 16.

For all of you anxiety buffs out there, trying to plot out your next move and get a hold of your life, you’re welcome.  When we walk into this life, we don’t have to fight with the person next to us for the window or aisle seat, we don’t have to worry if we’re sitting at the “cool” table.  We don’t have to mull over our decisions as if we know what tomorrow holds.  We don’t have to arrive early for the best seats in the house.  No, we must simply look up, find our name and sit down.  God has already assigned us a seat. 

P.S.  No one else can sit in your seat. Whether you arrive early or late, it will be empty waiting on you.  So, stop comparing your life with the next person’s, thinking you’re behind or not where you should be.  You will have everything God has assigned you to have.  And don’t worry, He has wonderful things assigned to each of us.