Taking the Time

I really am not sure what I want to say here today. I am flying by the seat of my pants and haven't carefully considered what I wanted to focus in on today. I guess I feel a bit of dissatisfaction with myself for going so long in between postings...again. I know that I am pretty tough on myself. I have plenty of reasons for having been busy and unable to stop and think. In the past three weeks we have lost my husband's grandmother and traveled to Kansas for her funeral; then we drove two days to North Dakota for a cousin's wedding, and back again; and now I am frantically attempting to catch up with work, which I do from home; and in two days we will be throwing a birthday bash for my husband. Of course, the next day we will drive back to Kansas City for another wedding.

Life doesn't slow down for any of us. Each day presents challenges and new tasks all it's own. Sadly, I know I sometimes default on the most important things, because I'm just "too busy". Things like taking the time to nurture my relationships with those most valuable to me. We get short with one another, aggravated with the little insignificant happenings, and we loose the connection to one another, for the moment. Often, if left unresolved, we start to feel the distance growing, like a huge gray cloud parting us.

I think I get that way with God, too. I get busy. Then something irritates me and I place blame wrongly upon Him, for something He never did, or at least never intended for me to experience. Then I feel the distance growing and I think, "I'm just so far from Him right now..."

The beauty of the Father is that He is always ready to get back on track with us. It is our place to stop what we are doing, take a break from "being busy", and live in the grace that He has already given. All we have to do is close the gap.

I am reminded of the story of Hosea in the bible. Hosea deeply loved his wife, a former prostitute, and even when her heart was divided, Hosea never gave up on her. The story mirrors God's love for His people, Israel. Within the chapters of the book of Hosea, we get a beautiful picture of how deeply, passionately, the Lord yearns for His children to return to Him and be undivided in our love and devotion to Him.
                           ⁴ The Lord says, I will bring my people back to me. 
                  I will love them with all my heart; no longer am I angry

                  with them.
                  ⁵ I will be to the people of Israel like rain in a dry land. 
                   They will blossom like flowers; they will be firmly rooted 
                   like the trees of Lebanon.
                  ⁶ They will be alive with new growth, 

                     and beautiful like olive trees. 
                    They will be fragrant like the cedars of Lebanon.
                  ⁷ Once again they will live under my protection. 
                    They will grow crops of grain 

                    and be fruitful like a vineyard. 
                   They will be as famous as the wine of Lebanon.
                  ⁸ The people of Israel will have nothing more 

                    to do with idols; 
                   I will answer their prayers and take care of them. 
                  Like an evergreen tree I will shelter them; 
                  I am the source of all their blessings.

                                                                          Hosea 14:4-8

Taking time each day to reflect upon His goodness is worth it. The clarity of who I am in Christ brings to me a better understanding of how to deal with the rest of my day, and how to relate with love, patience, and peace to all the others that I treasure. I am ever thankful that Christ calls to me to return to Him and receive what He so graciously longs to give. 

Our Exodus is Now.

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." -C.S. Lewis


Enslaved in a land where their voice was not heard, their dreams were never fulfilled, and their children and family for generations had lived in bondage to a king that hated them; the Israelites dwelled in a place not their own. Egypt was never home. Over the years, as more children were born into the slavery, perhaps in many ways the people grew numb to the fact that they were never meant for that land. Their people had a higher calling, a destiny beyond their present circumstance. They were meant for the promised land.


In much the same way we find ourselves often complacent to the reality of our own enslavement to the enemy of our soul. We settle for the scraps of the world, in a place we were never meant to dwell. We take the imprisonment as a normality. Somehow as human beings we so easily fall victim to the abuse that we have been conditioned to endure.


But, God has chosen us for greatness! Just as He brought His people, Israel, out of Egypt, He draws us out of our own desert and places us on our own path of freedom. And in this freedom from sin and enslavement, our eyes can be opened to the understanding that we are headed somewhere beyond this place...we are in Exodus. We are in wandering. We are waiting to enter into the Ultimate Promised Land of Eternity.


God has created us with eternity in our hearts! We are not made to live as His people in the entrapments of this world. We are not to be blindly living as slaves to our own desires, or the desires of other men. But, more importantly, we must realize that when we have been freed, we are now walking into a wilderness where we must rely completely and wholly on the God who has freed us. We must keep our eyes fixed on the Lord and not begin to gripe or complain.


There were those in the exodus from Egypt that never made it home to the promise land. Their sin was complaining. They were God's chosen people. They had seen His hand of provision. They had experienced His mighty saving power, yet while in the waiting, they chose to complain about their circumstance. The earth opened up and swallowed them on the spot.


How thankful I am that I am apart of THIS exodus! How blessed I am to have the grace of Jesus to cover my sin of complaints! But, oh, how awesome a responsibility we carry upon our backs to tell others of the journey home. We must stay focused on the reality and the promise of heaven. We were freed so that we could see it. We were redeemed so that we could one day arrive into completeness. We are destined to dwell with the Lord forever...I want to always remember this, in our exodus Now.


Revelation 7:16-17 New International Version (NIV)
¹⁶ ‘Never again will they hunger;
   never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,’^[a]
   nor any scorching heat. ¹⁷ For the Lamb at the center of the throne
   will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’^[b]
   ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’^[c]”