I love August. This month usually breezes past us, which is good since those fluttering calendar pages are about the only breeze many of us get. But along with the warm temperatures, August also gives us a glimpse of the fall.
I can hear the marching band practicing at the local high school. The evenings turn cooler. The mountains here in Virginia are lush and green and the weedy undergrowth is fading into fall colors. I enjoy these simple pleasures, and then my mind wanders.
Autumn deadlines, family responsibilities, travel schedules, busy college football weekends, etc.
Like clouds before a summer thunderstorm, these concerns accumulate and darken my mind.
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Sometimes it’s hard to keep my mouth shut.
My brain is always working, spewing out thoughts and feelings. When my brain isn’t in conversational overdrive, activity is the name of the game. Doing and productivity push me to want to conquer my never-ending tasks.
Sometimes the better thing is to be still. The better thing is to listen rather than jibber on. The better thing is to step away from the pressure of my day and enter in to sacred secrecy with God.
Jesus said to a frantic and frazzled Martha–the one I know–the one trying to get it all done and get it all right:
… you are worried and upset over all these details!
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Oh friends … tell me I am not alone today.
I struggle so much with my purpose here. With why I do what I do all day long … elbow deep in diapers and dishwater, I am overwhelmed.
And then-I read things like this.
Daniel 12:13.
As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.
The knowledge of, the security of where we are headed should utterly transform how we live while we are waiting.
How do we “go our way?”
Every thought, breath, word, and deed … every dirty dish, massive laundry load, floor mopping, toddler wrestling match, slow count to ten before I engage, should be tempered by the truth of the gospel.
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In the post “Pursuing Peace” we talked about how the peace of God within us requires that we take action. We also discussed that true peace from God is not just a state of mind or a demeanor, but it is also an example we live out that will draw others to Him. So, that being the case…
How can we pursue peace? What actions can we take in our everyday lives in pursuit of peace?
1. Do your part. This means not getting even, controlling anger and not reacting. It also means choosing relationship over being right.
2.
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I am usually not good at reading the Old Testament. I guess it intimidates me more than anything. Seeing God’s wrath is intimidating but it is also important to learn about. It’s a characteristic of our God because He is just. His justice points back to the cross and all He is given to us in Jesus Christ, God’s precious son, sacrificing himself for our sins.
Seeking my desire to know and grow closer to God, in a way that wasn’t as comfortable, led me to start reading 1 Samuel.
In 1 Samuel Chapter 2, I marveled at Hannah’s wonderful prayer of thanksgiving to God.
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Pulling back the curtain that night I answered the moons call. Captivated by the darkness before midnight, it’s star lit magnificence, I stood in silence. The moon is magical and I imagine the God cord of my heart pulling, drawing me to pay attention.
In all my days doing sometimes, it’s hard to hear. The typical sounds of a life at home with children can drown out any thoughts I have of finding time to just be with God. Whether it’s water running in the kitchen sink or a squabble between my tweens brewing in the next room, my focus rarely remains inward…in that space I like to be, to hear from God.
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In the early years of marriage when the care of babies and young children kept me busy and often tired, I struggled to maintain a consistent daily schedule to read my Bible and spend time with the Lord in quiet conversation and prayer. I heard many, many messages and multiple formulas on the subject and was attempting to read my Bible through in a year, but was regularly falling behind and constantly experiencing guilt and discouragement.
Until I heard a lady in my Sunday school class share that she had just completed reading her entire Bible from cover to cover. She had five children and two were under the age of two, and she joyfully exclaimed, “It took me two whole years, but I read every word – cover to cover!”
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You and I know the battle well. We live it day after day.
Watch your toddler. He will wander past the street, the stove, the electrical outlet, etc., completely ignoring the potential hazards, and then one day he gets too close and you say, “No.”
And that’s all it takes for you to spend the next hours, days, or weeks moving him, distracting him, scolding him, and and putting him in “time-out” . . . all in an attempt to prevent him from doing something you know will hurt him.
Paul wrote in Romans:
21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.
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