Dancing in the Light

I John 1:7 "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin."

Name:
Location: North Platte, Nebraska, United States

I am a christian wife, mother and grandmother. I am a licensed Social worker and a licensed Christian counselor. I am most proud of the relationships I have with God, my family and friends all over the world. I have been blessed beyond my dreams.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Living Room

Have you ever been so incredibly busy you barely had time to catch your breath? Have there been times when the reason you didn't know if you were coming and going was because there was so much going and very little coming? Times when the 24 hour day needed to be expanded if only to make a dent in your "to-do" list? I have had those days too, sadly too too many of them. We are all such busy people! There is so much to do that taking care of ourselves physically and emotionally and even spiritually requires planning, persistence and prayer.
Lately, I have been making a concerted effort to be an intentional disciple of Christ, one who thinks about her actions, one who tries to see and seize opportunities for evangelism, one who remembers the power of words and makes every attempt make her speech bless rather than hurt. I am amazed at what a struggle this is. Believing that an intentional Christian is what God would have me be, I have been praying that He would help me be just that, that He would help me see what is holding me back, what is blocking my progress.
I know that I do better when I spend time in the Word everyday! I know that my days are less stressful when I talk to God about everything. I know that keeping on track is easier when I put God first! I know this and yet often I delude myself into thinking that I am too busy to read the Bible and I have too much going on to stop to pray and that the things I need to do are so much more important than spiritual things. Sometimes I convince myself that I will do them later, only to find that I either forget or I say a hurried prayer as I drift off to sleep. That is when I find I am most vulnerable to the sins of pride, judgemental attitudes, and impatience and that is when I am tempted to lie and make excuses. I get so busy living my life that I have no room for living for Jesus.
We are a very affluent society but accumulating things takes time and effort, as does maintaining those things. Before we know it we are working for our things. Being involved in activities is a good thing. We can meet more people when we develop relationships with them and we do that by sharing some sort of activity with them, whether it be gymnastics, or tennis, or band or PTA or book club or auxiliary, that is where we meet others. But does it sometimes seem like we spend so much time with others that we forget to spend time with God? It does for me! Somewhere along the line, I bought into the idea that it is wrong to not participate in everything! I must be at every single church activity, I must sponsor every extracurricular event, I must be scout leader, bus driver, Sunday school teacher, and be on every single committee. I think it makes satan very happy when we get so busy doing good that we forget to be good! My house, my heart, my life get so crowded that there is not room for one more thing. There is not time for one more event, not time for one more activity, no time to spend with one more person. How sad that God was not at the top of the list but rather relegated to the bottom, and occasionally not on the list at all.
I have discovered that it is not in this life that I truly experience living but rather in time with Him, in His Word, fulfilling His purpose for me. That is where I will know life! I realize I will need to simplify my life. I cannot participate in everything if I am to fellowship with the Father. I cannot spend time with everyone if I am to have time to spend with Him. I will have to make room for Christ if I am to live for Him. If I am to be an intentional Christian, I will need to clear out the warehouse of my heart and give Him some living room!

Blessings
Neva

19 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Neva,
I was so happy when bloglines told me you had a new post! I really look forward to your words of wisdom and encouragement, they make every day a little brighter.
Thank you.

Pat

10:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Amen--too busy for God? So glad he is never too busy for me!


Carlos

11:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Making room for Jesus! Yes! Otherwise he wont live with us!
Great post!

Rachel

5:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I totally agree. Part of the evidence that we're part of a fallen humanity is the fact that lots of us know what we should do, but then struggle so mightily to actually do it. We act like crazy people! Paul described it as an internal battle between the flesh and Spirit (captital S). That is, God is at work in us, fighting the flesh with its habits in order to slowly and often times painfully reshape us.

The key, as you so clearly put it, is that we have to be intentional about all of this.

7:16 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How sad that we allow so many things to crowd Him out! Great post, Neva


Mary

12:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yep, I know that is right! We need to simplify, simplify, simplify!


Corinne

2:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Love it! You have such a knack for making analogies. very good!

Georgia

7:33 PM  
Blogger Lori said...

I sure enjoy your post.

I have to remember to slow down a bit and make sure I'm living for HIM first and foremost.

Lori

8:30 PM  
Blogger Stacie said...

God first and everything else falls into place, it is all about balance. Trying to find balance right now. Doing pretty good at keeping the scales from tipping one way or the other. Great post.

10:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hope your day is beautiful and you are enjoying your new job.

Love ya
Kel

1:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Trying again -again- myself :)

2:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is a struggle for me too! Trying to keep God first, I fear I am often weak!

Keep up the good work.

Dean

5:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

neva,
somehow you always know what I need. This lesson is one that I try and try to learn, a discipline I crave for my life but my resolve often weakens and I lapse back into the busyness of the world. Thank you for the reminder and teh encouragement.
Have a blessed week.
Randi

7:45 PM  
Blogger preacherman said...

Neva,
I want you to know that is such an wonderful post. We all need to hear this message. All Christians.
Excellent post sister!
Keep up the wonderful work.
I really enjoy reading your posts. I want you to know that they are encouraging to my spiritual walk.
In Him,
Kinney Mabry

8:04 PM  
Blogger Monalea said...

You made some excellent points. When my kids were little someone told me, "When you say 'Yes' you are actually saying 'No' to something else.

Have a great day!

Monalea

8:31 AM  
Blogger Kathy said...

Oswald Chambers says in one of the devotionals in My Utmost For His Highest

"One of the greatest competitors to our devotion TO Jesus is our service FOR Jesus." [emphasis added]

Stacie said it so well, "God first and everything else falls into place,..."

Chambers also writes:

Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a "doormat." The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that "falls into the ground and dies"— it will spring up and change the entire landscape ( John 12:24 ).

It is a sometimes difficult truth to assimilate, but true nevertheless - Jesus first and all else will fall into place.

Great post, yet again, Neva! You are so gifted. Bless you for sharing that gift with us so faithfully!!

Love ya' dear friend!!

9:44 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Everyday I remind myself that "this is God's day". Somehow that helps me keep focused on doing what He would want me to do.

Shari

1:02 PM  
Blogger David Kirk said...

Very good! Thank you!

12:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sounds just like me, at times.

3:12 PM  

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