I blew right through a stop sign today. I really have no excuse. We were traveling a street I know well. I had no visual obstructions. There were no distractions, either in the car or on the road. Yet as I came upon the intersection, my husband said, “I guess you’re not going to stop, huh?”
Oh! I felt so dumb. It was so obvious once it was pointed out. I had allowed my mind to wander to the point that I wasn’t even paying attention to where I was going. It suddenly hit me what a visual this was for my life.
2010 was one of the busiest, stressful years of my life. I have gotten so distracted by thoughts and work and “shoulds” and “shouldn’ts”. My mind has been consumed with doing many, many good things. Righteous things, even. But the price has been too great. I have lost my spiritual focus.
Solomon says, in Ecclesiastes 1:12-14:
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. (NIV)
The key to getting my life together starts with my spiritual journey. Everything else will be built on that. I feel stressed when I try to accomplish an agenda I want or feel needs to be accomplished. If I look to God, determined to be obedient to what He has for me, it will be impossible for me to overdo it. It is simply not in His plan for any of us to feel overwhelmed and exhausted. He has the answers. He holds the truths. When we draw close, He reveals them, and we are at peace. It seems so obvious once it’s pointed out, doesn’t it?
My positive change for this week will be focusing on scripture, Proverbs in particular. I have heard others say they read one chapter a day. Since there are 31 chapters, it’s the perfect size to complete by the end of the month. My plan is to read in the morning so I can meditate on it throughout the day. And if I really get ambitious, I’ll begin the book again at the start of each month.
Hey! If you do this, too, we can have a virtual reading group! I’d love to hear which verses hit your heart particularly hard or hold a special significance for your life. One other thing I’ve learned about scripture…every time you read it, you find a different, new nugget of truth that you can apply to your current circumstance.
Have a great week, and happy reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment