This Rolling Stone...

I received a phone call from a dear friend this afternoon who opened our conversation by asking, "How busy are you?"  Oh, boy.  My mind raced through a list of to-do's as I caught my breath. 
"Too busy," I admitted.
"How are you handling it?" she asked.  Now, with some people this is an up-front question.  Knowing her, it was a trick question. She loves me enough to be honest.  Bluffing was out of the question. Fortunately, God and I had already had this discussion today.
"I'm handling it one moment at a time.  There's too much to do.  So I told the Lord that if He would prompt and direct me, with His help, I'll be obedient."
"Do you have time for me?"
"This is as good a prompting as I'll get," and a pleasant one, too, I said to myself.
By the time we finished our conversation and hung up the phone, God had blessed me abundantly.  She shared how God is working in her life, where she's struggling, and as she preached to herself, she spoke to my almost-harried heart.
God knows the demands of each hour and each day.  He knows the calling He has on our lives.  I can honestly say that the responsibilities I have taken on are God-given.  I am practicing the art of saying no to those people and things I would say yes to simply as a courtesy or because of other's expectations.  The things on my plate are personal callings from God, but there is no physical, earthly way to accomplish them (need I add: to do them the way I think they should be done?).  Somehow, God does.
So, for tonight's young adult barbecue, my kitchen floor may not be spotless, the cobweb may still be in the windowsill, I will no doubt have a pile of copies to make for Good News Club sitting on the dining room table.  But if God gives sweetness of fellowship and honoring words from our hearts, then it doesn't have to be done to my specifications, does it?  It is the Spirit who burdens, the Father who provides, and the Son who bridges the gap.  In the incomplete moment of this day, there is no moss gathering on these heavenly treasures... God keeps moving me along.  Praise Him, praise Him!

Procrastination and A Heavy Burden

So, yes, at this moment---while you think I am writing to encourage you--I am actually procrastinating.  Perhaps there will be a blessing for you in my personal procrastination.  I should be walking on the treadmill, but I was feeling weary and weighed down.  My usual speed was too fast, my attention drawn elsewhere.  The weighted vest I wear seemed extraordinarily heavy. 
As I sat here at the dining room table typing on my laptop yesterday, there was an interruption in the traffic outside.  I ran out in my grey shorts, t-shirt, and bare feet to see cars stopped and our old golden retriever lying in the road.  God bless the fellow that stopped to help.  I ran through the house to get shoes, then out to the barn where I prayed for something to move her (she must have weighed 100 lbs, even with her ribs on the surface--yes, she was old).  There was a slatted wooden fence piece nearby which I grabbed and carried back to the road.
Traffic was moving as the gentleman stood over Pretty, our dog, directing cars this way and that.  What a beautiful picture of the Holy Spirit.  When crisis strikes and we are wounded, the rest of the world moves on--but there was one who stopped, intervened, and helped me carry Pretty to the shade of a nearby tree where she and I waited for my husband to take her into the veterinarian. She was given an injection.  It was all very peaceful.  Her only yelp was at the moment of impact. 
Needing a physical outlet, I found my way outside and pruned roses until our girls arrived home on the school bus.  Now I'm a little tired and sore.  And not wanting to wear this weighted vest and walk my four miles.
In all of this, I was reminded of what I read earlier this week and stopped walking to share it with you:  "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30) What a great exchange--my burden for His.  His burden for mine. 
My burden: loss, the desire to please, the want to fix things and change circumstances.  His burden: to please the Father, to trust the Father with all circumstances and things, to walk in obedience.  What a deal.  I give Him my sense of loss, the burden of unnecessary responsibility and cares.  He gives me the ability to trust, rest, and obey.  That makes life much more bearable.  Peaceful.  Joyful.  Free. 
So what do I do with heavy vest?  Maybe I'll wear it tomorrow....

Jesus vs. Me

Passage: Matthew 12: 1-29


V. 15b-21: Many followed Him, and He healed them all, and warned them not to tell who He was. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah, the prophet: “Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen; My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased; I will put My spirit upon Him, and He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel, nor cry out; nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A battered reed He will not break off, and a smoldering wick He will not put out, until He leads justice to victory. And in His name the Gentiles will hope.”

Observation: In sharing this O.T. prophecy we see the nature of Christ in a few words: He is God’s servant, He is loved of God, He is the Chosen One, He pleases God first and foremost, He announces justice, He seeks peace, He does not draw attention to Himself, He is gentle and merciful, He is patient, He is trustworthy.

Application: I can know that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He continues to serve the Father, to be loved. He is the Chosen One who pleases God first. He makes known the way of justice. He seeks peace. He does not draw attention to Himself, but gently and mercifully cares for that which is losing hope. He continues to patiently wait for His time to lead in justice and victory. He is worthy of our trust.

I can take heart that, as one who is called to be His imitator, this is His calling on my life. I am called to be God’s servant—not my own master, not the servant of my own desires and whims. Through Jesus Christ, I am loved and chosen. I am free to seek His agenda and His will because my own agenda and will are base, temporal, fleeting. Because of His love and choice, I have the freedom and authority to accomplish His purposes. I am not called to quarrel against those who would disagree. It is not my place to cry out. I am not called to draw attention to myself and put myself in the limelight. I am simply called to minister mercy and grace to the hurting, the lost, and those losing hope. In reaching out to those in need, I will patiently wait for His victory and justice, holding out that same hope to others.

So how am I doing? Not well. My flesh does not want to rest in being chosen, but wants to strive for importance. As a matter of fact, it does not want to be chosen at all—it wants to choose “for itself” (no pride there?). My flesh wants to be the one to love, not the one who is loved (again, I want the control). My flesh wants to please me, not Him. It does not want to proclaim justice; it wants to create justice (Clint Eastwood style!). My flesh wants to cry out, to quarrel, and to draw attention to the misdeeds of the world, of circumstance, of sinful man. It wants to hold center stage—now and always. It does not want to flubber over a smoldering wick or apply mercy to a broken reed. It wants victory NOW. It wants confidence and assurance NOW.

Wow. Good thing I’m reading God’s Word. It’s so not who I am. But by God’s grace, and by His Spirit, He will do the work as I submit. Whew. Praise God who gives the victory! Salvation is not a moment of faith; it is a lifetime of faith.