Originally published Wednesday, 19 April 2017.
I approached him, "Get your backpack. We need to get in that car."
He marched right past me holding the shovel like a sword, swinging it as if he just won a war. He wasn't going anywhere, this I knew. My words floated over him like the wind. His eyes were dead set on the game he was playing.
I was annoyed, for what stood between me and peace - was a 5-year old, a pretend game and a wrestling match of words that was about to explode.
What is standing in between you and peace? Between you and God?
For me it is distractions. Consider this: Just 5 minutes before my son's victory march I was praying to God, asking him to be with me and wanting to walk forward in his love. So, what happened?
(Deep breath.) 3 distractions bubbled up - ones that so often pull me off track:
- I let the demands of this world, steal my delight in the Creator.
- I allow urgency to replace intimacy - between me and God.
- I let destination take precedence over God's invitation to let loose.
(Another deep breath.) When I am worried about time, (I don't have enough of it, I am stressed out by it, I am going to be late, I am missing out, I am too old, I am too young, I should be somewhere already, I don't want to wait, I must think about my future, rather than be present) I work myself into a tizzy. And, here, in all my trembling - I can't see God.
...But all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life...so no fruit is produced. (Mark 4:19)
I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord the best, with as few distractions as possible. (1 Cor. 7:35)
If I am distracted I can't as easily be engaged with God. If I am worried about many things, I can't be enthralled by the One thing. If I am trying to press through a tight knit schedule, I can't as easily press peace into this world.
I want more. Do you? I want to take God through my day with me. Not just in the morning time, but all the time. Not just when I think of him, but as I do everything. I want to invite in his love so I can spread his love.
No longer do I want to fear the rush, the clock and the game - that calls me to sprint ahead, but I want to stop and sit and savor and sip up God's goodness. Maybe you do too...
For we serve a God who is limitless and unbound by time. The truth is, he can work within any barrier that lays before us. He just outstretches his hand and it expands in a way where we can do what we once thought we couldn't.
We believe by faith. And God handles the rest.
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