Sadly, it doesn’t take much to distract me…
I wake up to spend time with the Lord. Go to grab my Bible, journal and books from the living room…
See husbands shoes, wallet and keys laying in the floor…
Take the “droppings” to the bedroom to be put away…
See an unmade bed that MUST be made…
See my phone w/ 4 text messages and 18 emails...
Grab it and begin multi-tasking…
Stomach growls. Need to eat!
Sit down with my bowl of Cheerios, only to realize, the Bread of Life from which I was so easily distracted!!
Quietly bow before the Lord asking HIM to order my steps today.
Finish my cereal and banish my phone and computer back to the bedroom.
Snuggle up on the couch to spend time with the Lover of My Soul.
Spend time praising Him, studying His Word and asking Him to renew my mind, body and soul which are prone to wander.
Re-start my day asking the Lord to keep me in step with His Spirit so that my life isn’t lived in my own strength or for my own agenda/ambitions/glory.
This Christmas, the desire of my heart is to keep in step with His Spirit. Resting when He wants me to rest. Praising when He desires my praise. Giving of my time and energy to my family, when He nudges me out of my comfortable to-do list. Sacrificially giving to those in need.
This idea of keeping in step with the Spirit hit home for the me this Christmas. It was the first day of Christmas vacation when I heard a knock at the door. I was cozy in my bed (actually spending time w/ God NOT distracted for once!?!). My husband, Joel, opened the door to find a man and woman standing on our front porch asking to rake our lawn. Joel and I had literally JUST planned on raking it ourselves over the break and so he kindly declined their help.
I asked who was at the door and Joel replied immediately “It was a homeless man and his wife. They wanted to rake our yard…I totally should have let them!” We both looked at each other and knew we had to go track them down. I threw on some shoes and we hopped in the car. About 3 blocks away we saw the man and his wife, whom we now know as Wallace and Rosina. We loaded them in our car and headed back to the house. They were sweet as could be and worked so hard unearthing our lawn from the fall leaves. We chatted with them a while, paid them for their work, and gave them a book that explained how to become a Christian and a basket of fruit and told them to come back again someday.
Two days past and we couldn’t get these new friends off our minds. Never before had we seen such hard work and been so burdened to be a blessing to someone in such need. They came back again that Saturday, this time while they worked in the yard, Joel helped them and I gathered blankets and cooked a warm lunch. We got to hear a little bit more of their story over tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Then we had some prayer time for them.
Our conversation over lunch confirmed in mine and Joel’s hearts that THIS was a blessing we could have missed.
THIS was what it looked like to keep in step with the Spirit.
THIS is what it means for the Lord to bless us in order for us to be a blessing to others.
THIS is what it means to LIVE out the Gospel tangibly to a hurting world.
Joel and I have decided we will continue developing a relationship with Wallace and Rosina. We just saw them this morning and were able to give them some Christmas gifts to keep them warm and some fresh bread. Rosina said she is beginning to see God’s work in their lives and they are hopeful for what He wants to do in their lives.
We want to be available to be used by the Lord in the lives of whomever, whenever. But, it takes intentional effort NOT to get so distracted!!
What things are distracting you this Christmas? How will you lay those things down in order to keep Christ and His plans for you first in your heart?
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