Reflections

When you slow down the pace and rhythms of your life and listen…and keep listening…what do you hear?  How long does it take to shut off all of the internal and external noises and distractions?  Who and what have been driving and running your life?  Can you identify the messages and underlying beliefs that are bringing you peace, joy, love, hope, and contentment?  Can you identify messages and underlying beliefs that are creating distractions, distortions, confusion, chaos, craziness, anxiety, and frustration?  Who is actually in control of your life? 

If pain and problems control your life, your focus and life will be consumed by them.  If your passions run your life, they’ll eventually turn to zeal and drive people away.  If your work or ministry drives your life, you’ll get consumed and lose what’s sacred and nonnegotiable.  If your family becomes your world because you love them with your all, you’ll lose track of the other people that God has placed nearby and stop caring about them.  If what’s going on within you consumes and distracts you, you will drive yourself crazy.  If your health and body become your central focus, you may be fit, but only for a bit.  If what you consume through your screens controls what you think, talk about, and do with your time, whoever controls the media will be controlling you and those you impact.

Unfortunately, we seem to go from one preoccupation to the next.  We get consumed with one part to the neglect of another equally-important part.  We can be thankful and grateful and enjoy everything and everyone that God has given us, or we can become fixated on pursuing and getting what we don’t have.  We can give all of our attention to one to the neglect of another—even in our own families.  We can be consumed with giving or receiving and forget that both are necessary in healthy relationships.  We can be completely people-focused and forget the tasks that make everything work, or we can be engrossed in tasks and forget the people around us.  We can become anxious or driven to do more, make more, or accomplish more, and we can become too busy for the people we love the most.  Or we can drive those around us to do more or make more or be more and alienate them instead of listening and finding out how they’re doing and what they need most.

As I sat with Jesus this morning, I listened and reflected on what the Lord brought to my attention.  In the process, I rediscovered that God cares about every part of my life and every person in my life.  He wants me to live and walk so closely with Him that He’s actually restoring my rhythms and ordering my thoughts and steps.  Jesus wants to be Lord of the parts of my life so that they’re all working together in harmony with His Kingdom plan.  Jesus wants to help, heal, restore, and shine through His people, and each one of us plays a unique role that God has designed for us to play.  We accomplish so much more when we’re closely connected with God’s Spirit and with one another.

It grieves my spirit when we pretend that we’re okay or better off being distant instead of being closely connected with God and with one another.  Truthfully, life never works when we try to do life on our own.  When we listen to the lies of the enemy, he sets us up to turn against God and one another and to do our own thing.  In the process, the enemy creates mental and relational distance in order to lie, cheat, distort, pervert, and destroy us.  If we listen to his lies, we either take out the people around us and act like we don’t need them, or we take ourselves out so that he can take us out.  Left to ourselves, we self-destruct. 

How grateful I am for my morning times with God.  How thankful I am for God’s marvelous grace, mercy, love, and truth.  I’m thankful for the three hours that I spend each week blogging, because I engage in a process of deeply reflecting on life and truth.  In the process, God’s words get etched and fleshed out in ways that bring light where there’s darkness.  God brings direction when I’ve lost my way.  He gives focus when my anxious and distracted mind and life need His corrective lenses.  He brings healing and restoration when I’m sick and problem-focused.  He brings balance when my life becomes out of whack. God brings wisdom as I sit with His Word and wait for Him to teach, admonish, and encourage me.  He forgives and graces me when I least deserve it and continually need it.  He brings what’s new and needed into my life right when I need it. 

I want to encourage you to spend some time each day in quiet reflection.  Create your own prayer altar and protected space where you wait on the Lord until He speaks to you.  Through prayer.  Through song.  Through nature.  Through Bible meditation.  Through journaling.  Through creative outlets.  Ask the Lord to give you ears that hear Him and a heart that’s yielded and ready to obey Him.  Ask God to give you some creative ways to share what He’s teaching you through your reflection times with Him.  Once this becomes a daily habit, I want to encourage you to invite your loved ones to join you as you seek the Lord together.  If you need a prayer altar, I’ll make one for you.  When God shows you something new that can benefit others, please share a comment on this blog for the common good.  We’re better together as we learn from one another what God is teaching us.