Hey there BCU Family!
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This “adulting” thing I have to do keeps me pretty occupied. I praise God and am grateful that I have a full-time job, spouse, church, family and the BCU ministry (essentially run pretty full time). In between all that, I like to see friends and family, minister to people, keep house, eat, read and especially rest and sleep.
In fact, I look forward to the holidays and precious few and far in between days off to just. do. nothing. I’m the kind of vacation person that LIKES to stay home, with no plans, no clock to punch, no set time do, be, or go anywhere. I call that, “the slow hurry.” Those are my million dollar days.
I recall years ago, I had a week off for vacation. While a couple of those days were already spoken for, I was excited for the remainder of the time for doing nothing! As I was talking to my best friend Kenya about it, I started to lament about my life AFTER my time off was finished. It would be MONTHS before my next big block of time was coming up! I started thinking about how long those days would be and how hard it would be to get through them. During those days, there was nothing to look forward to, until the next vacation. The Lord checked me on that.
“Enjoy the present.”
We have a habit of saving the anticipation-filled phrases like, “I can’t wait…” or “I am looking forward to…” for special occasions, while saying, “I’ll be glad when this day is over”, or “it is Monday…already”, or “I wish this day would hurry up and come…” with dread and disdain. We wish away the days, complain the about the time we have to spend at work, going to and from work, doing chores, shopping, cleaning, running kids around——we even complain about the time we give God. “Why does the message take so long?” “He prays too long!” “What time is service over?”
When we FINALLY get to the free time we couldn’t wait for, how are we really spending it? Looking our loved ones in the face, studying their words and actions——-conversing intently? Or are our faces glued to our devices, while we catch snippets and fragments of what is being said? I’d venture to guess that many of us do the latter. Keeping that in mind…
What if…we were intentional about rejoicing in the day the Lord made (which would be all of them, including Monday)… See Psalm 118:24.
What if… instead of complaining about our jobs and wishing the day away, we payed attention to the people we work with for an opportunity to bless, encourage or be a witness to them——even if it’s demonstrated through our attitudes and actions. See Matthew 5:16.
What if…rather than complain about the job God blessed us with, we take all the tasks, including those those mundane meetings, the clean-up, the less glamorous parts that have to be done, along with tasks we enjoy, keeping in mind, that we work unto God as not as unto men. See Colossians 3:23-24.
What if… we practiced being content..even if things are not where we want them to be at the moment? The spouse you prayed for? Thank God. The kids you asked God for? Thank God. The spouse you are waiting for? Thank God. Struggling to pay bills? Thank God. We have the money to pay the bill? Thank God. It’s important that we live in the state of contentment. See Philippians 4:11.
What if…we prepared our hearts, minds and bodies for the services we attend——-looking for the Lord to bless, heal, deliver, save and set free in a mighty way? What if we arrived rested, full, prayed up and ready to see what we can do to be a blessing——and excitedly anticipate what God has for us? See Psalm 133:1.
What if… we prayed fervently (rather than half-way and sarcastically) that the Spirit of the Lord rest upon the hearts of the people during service, so much so, that people walk out differently than how they came in? And rather than complain about the time, we rejoiced in the fact that people are being blessed? See James 5:16 (b).
BCU Family, whether we like it or not, our days are numbered. In Psalm 90:10, Moses said that we the days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years. Threescore is 60, add another 10 and that’s 70. So, fourscore is 80. Of course, some live longer and some shorter——that’s all in God’s hands. No, we don’t know when we’ll leave here—-but what we can do, with the help of the Lord, while we are living for Him, is to enjoy our days to the fullest. Ecclesiastes 5:18 reminds us, “it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of labor that he takes under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives, for it is his portion.”
Enjoy the present.
BCU Fam, I really have to be intentional about not rushing through my days and wishing my time away. Once, I remember catching myself thinking “I need to hurry through this chore to get my free time”. Rather than rush through my schedule, the Lord reminded me to take my time. I confess, I was blessed in the process, and got home in plenty of time to rest. We often miss how we can be a blessing and God blessing us, because we are operating in chronos time (keeping a schedule), versus being present in kairos time (God’s opportune moments). Amen? Amen!
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Thank you SO much for stopping by! May God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!
Love,
BCU 