“The real work of life happens at the cellular level of one moment at a time believing God’s promises. Praying like breathing and obeying his spirit immediately. There are no larger battles.” – Andrée Seu
Every decision we make, no matter how small it seems, is elevating one thing over another. Making one item more of a priority over another. I don’t have time to do this, because this is more important right now. I can’t afford this, because I have to pay for this it is more important. Our schedules and our checkbooks are witnesses to what we value most in life. We always find time for what is most important to us, no matter how busy we are or how little we can actually afford it. Unfortunately our value system is broken which causes major issues with our lives. We value least that which is most valuable and value most that which is least valuable.
It seems to me that so many of things that are pressing for my immediate time, attention and resources are not nearly as important and valuable as they make themselves out to be in that critical moment. And the things in my life that are critical and most important don’t seem to clamor nearly as much as they should if they clamor at all. Instead they tug and whisper, then silently walk away with their heads down and take their position waiting on the sidelines after I have told them I will be with them in a minute…
I hate that. I hate that I fall for it almost all the time, and that it’s only after wards that I have realized what I have done. The horrible crime I have committed of elevating the trivial over the most valuable – again.
Sometimes it is my husband’s simple request, sometimes it’s my work, sometimes it’s my chores, sometimes it’s spending time with my kids, sometimes it’s a friend, sometimes it’s a phone call, sometimes it’s a dreaded responsibility, sometimes it’s my prayer time, sometimes it’s the alarm clock, but it is always as God’s voice whispering and inviting through my conscience , “This is the way, walk in it” – while everything else shouts and urgently tugs and pulls me in the opposite direction quickly distracting my mind from that little whisper by subduing my conscience with, “In a minute…Just another minute…This will only take a minute….I just have to do this first…”
Too often I am the second son in the parable of the two sons in Matthew 21:28-31. More than willing to go, but never getting around to it. Too easily distracted and sidetracked. It takes nothing but a gentle breeze to blow me off course. I wish I could say that it was a force like that of tidal wave that swept over me and knocked me off my feet this time. That I was brave and bruised from wrestling against it…but that wouldn’t adequately describe the problem I see in myself way too often lately. I am much worse off than that. I am much weaker than that. Too often I allow myself to be over powered by my own selfish desires as they continually pull and tug me away from that which matters most in life, listening to that tiny voice saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” (Isa. 30:21)
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts .” (Heb. 4:7)
