If you know me, you would know I am quite a busy person. I never seem to have free time to just be "lazy," although there are times I try to and later end up paying for it. A few years ago it use to be quite the opposite and I seriously could not wait for my life to start up again. While there are times I miss my quiet days, I wish I used them differently. If I was given the grand opportunity again I would do the things I never have time for today. Even though I do miss my so called lazy days, I really like staying busy. If I am not excited about what I am busy with currently I will begin to dream of being busy with something else. I believe I began to think positively of a busy life when reality hit me - this is the only life I have on this Earth (or on the Moon, if I move there like when I am fifty or something). Because busyness can get us sidetracked with what is important, just being occupied with anything is not always wise. Being occupied with what is life giving is the key to living a full life. Trust me, there is a difference between being occupied with random busy and purposeful busy, and even with purposeful busy we all need breaks to rejuvenate. What is life giving? I believe it has to do with perspective, and not so much our own perspective but with God's, which means we would need to look at His view on life. "In the beginning God created the earth…" okay, okay… we have all heard that. Yet, have we all thought about why He created it? Simple - for His own glory and purpose. God meant for us to be the ones He utilized to bring life (not just having a heart pumping kind of life, but things that make life worth living). That means we were made with a purpose! For me that is very exciting, because my life has value, so therefore my time here will only be wasted if I allow it to be. My church, Water of Life, is like no other church I have ever been to. I use to think living for God was mostly boring and just plain hard to do, but WOL gave me a whole new perspective - God's perspective: life is an adventure. Adventure is full of daring journeys, weary valleys, dark forests, crazy characters…. No I am not just talking about Wonderland here to give you a visual. I am also talking about real life - a guy named Joshua who I really believe lived once and who had to face real giants. If you have seen the cast for the movie The Prince's Bride then you know giants do and have existed before. Even though there were giants in the land promised to him and the millions with him, God said "Every place on which the sole of your feet treads, I have given it to you" (Joshua 1:3). To be honest, if God told me that a land full of giants was to be mine someday… I do not think I would leap for joy. I would probably have a heart attack and think God is crazy. Besides the crazy facts, Joshua took a risk and believed God. Not just taking a risk on idea though, but with God's idea. I think it is safe to say we all take a risk by busy with multiple things. That can be a positive risk if it is God's idea. One of the things my church has done recently is give us devotional packets based off the motto Pressing in because people matter…. Someone who has made himself/herself anonymous paid for everyone's devotional. That may not sound like a big deal until you realize we have about 16,000 people who come to Water of Life. Yikes. Also, our books have a removable leather cover over it so we can switch our 30 day devotional with the next 30 day devotional when we finish the first. This person put a lot of money down to do this for our church. Yet, we have many people who do this for numerous things, and if it is not their money it is their time. Why? Because they know it is a life giving church - they are investing and taking risks in something that matters. Just because it is a church does not make it worthwhile. It is because this church is focused on showing people who God really is: loving, just, and merciful. When you invest in people, you change the world. I have been reading my Pastor's (Dan Carroll) blogs that he sends every day to go with our 30 day devotional, mostly focused on the book of Joshua. Each devotion and each blog is not what many of us would think - boring words telling us to read our Bibles and pray - telling us "churchy" words, as Pastor Dan likes to call it. Instead they are simple heart filled reminders to stay in the adventure with God and to not live life as we see it with our understanding, but in faith believing that God is going to make life out of our pain and sacrifices. We can do the impossible, we can be busy with the things that count, we can live with hope no matter what we giants we face. It is all about looking with God's perspective - living for what is life giving. One risk I want to take is by declaring the very fact that I need to be more joyful. It is a risk for me because I am putting myself in a vulnerable spot. I hate being vulnerable. However, I want to grow more than I enjoy despising vulnerability, and so if the very thing I hate helps me grow.. then I'll take the risk applying it. Therefore, I am going to as of now admit I need to work on being more joyful.
There are many things in my life that I have become bitter against. Yet, there are many things that I have used as a learning opportunity; the pain and disadvantages have allowed me to understand myself and others better. The things I struggle with now still have to be conquered. I have many dragons in my life which I thought were already slain or tamed for better purposes. Some of those dragons I still have to discover - I have a journey before me full of risks, but once completed will be of the very essence of life giving. I notice that it is hard to do any two things at once, but it is impossible to be mad and happy at the same time, while even more so to follow God's adventures while dragging yourself through your own. "I wish I could manage to be glad!" the [White] Queen said. "Only I never can remember the rule. You must be very happy, living in this wood, and being glad whenever you like!" "Only it is so very lonely here!" Alice said in a melancholy voice; and at the thought of her loneliness two large tears came rolling down her cheeks. "Oh, don't go on like that!" cried the poor Queen, wringing her hands in despair. "Consider what a great girl you are. Consider what o'clock it is. Consider anything, only don't cry!" Alice could not help laughing at this, even in the midst of her tears. "Can you keep from crying by considering things?" she asked. "That's the way it's done," the Queen said with great decision; "nobody can do two things at once, you know…." ~Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, pg. 206
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorHello, I am Christiana! Archives
May 2017
|