I once read a devotion by a woman who had recognized the need of liberation from her commitment to completing the items on her daily list when she turned down an invitation to spend time with a friend because her list stated she must vacuum under her beds that afternoon.
I have never been near that level of devotion to keeping a spotless house, but I am just now, at age 68, in the process of liberation from my devotion to my right to spend my days as I deem best. Sometimes, a fear that other people will take over our time is actually a reluctance to abandon all for Christ. What if He plans to use me up and wear me out for His purposes? What if I can't rest when I'm tired and what if my body and mind, not to speak of my nerves, give way under the strain? What if what if what if???
Then there is the secret whisper that I deserve some leisure at this point in my life after being my mother's primary caregiver for 16 years, 12 of those in my own home.
That sounds somewhat logical until we look at things from the Lord's point of view. During those years of caregiving I was blessed abundantly by the Lord's provision. As the Israelites were blessed in the desert, I was blessed in ways I could never have provided myself: "The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything" (Deuteronomy 2:7 NIV).
Our challenge is not to push forward in our own strength, but rather to fall back into the Lord's arms.
Lord let us be ready to do Your will, flexible in Your hands, more committed to loving and being loved by You than to our own goals, let us delight to do Your will, in Jesus' Name we pray.
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