Hesitate Instead of Hurry

Yesterday I felt tired, like my limbs carried around bricks tied to them and my thoughts trudged through quick sand.  I didn't get a lot done: the dishes, another event booked.  The list of things not done includes sorting clothes, doing laundry, sorting toys, cleaning toilets and floors.
 
But I did hesitate. 

I held Noah while he was throwing a temper, I lay down on the floor next to him and tried to soothe him, not angry or frustrated.  I understand; sometimes I want to throw a tantrum too.  I took the time to stop doing the dishes to discipline him as he attempted to pull out glass dishes from the cupboard.  I kissed on Emily and hugged her and informed her again and again I was the Queen when she called me her Prince.  I carried Noah through the grocery store, feeling the warmth of his body in the icecream aisle.  I helped Emily transform into a fairy.  I watched Kayli's eyes light up as I told her she could help me at the festival next Saturday, that maybe she could read stories to kids for me.   I helped Jadyn find the perfect notebook to go with her waitress costume.  I wiped her shoes off and helped her tie them, without hearing the usual whispers (or screams) to hurry! hurry! hurry! I noticed one of her earings was missing.  I helped her skip count 25 starting at 500 and stopping at 600 and then challenged her to go past 600, triumphing with her that she could do it. 

And I feel triumphant. 

And I think I will begin eliminating the word "hurry" from my vocabulary. 

A Call to Holiness

As I read Psalm 106 recently, I turned it into a prayer for my life: 

Lord, may I not grumble in my promised land, lacking the faith to see Your promises.  May I not murmer and refuse to obey Your voice.  If Your hand is on my life and I am obedient, help me to know there is a plan and a purpose for every season.  Let me not forget Your wondrous works Lord or forget to wait on Your counsel.  May I never exchange the glory of God to worship an idol of my own making.  May I not cause my brothers and sisters in Christ anger, causing them to stumble or act rashly.  May I not exasperate and frustrate the leaders You place above me, like the people of Israel frustrated Moses, becoming a stumbling block for him.  Lord, may I not ever tolerate sin in any proportion in my life, lest my righteousness be compromised, my standard shifted so that I come to say, "That's okay. God won't mind." For You do mind, God.  Because coddling that little sin creates a monster, a weed that refuses to be moved, a fire ant hill that is hard to completely destroy.  And Your Word says you "abhorred" Your heritage when they allowed the sin of other nations to become their own. 
Thank you, God, that even so, You heard Israel's cry for help.  And that You hear me in my times of distress, even when it is because of my own doing; You remember Your covenant with me and relent according to the abundance of Your steadfast love.  Let Your day come quickly God and gather us from the nations, to surround Your throne and cry Holy, Holy, Holy. 

I pray that this will be your prayer too. 

This is My Song

Psalm 105 is a beautiful reminder of God's fulfilling one of His promises to the Israelites.  It goes from the first covenant with Abraham, to the slavery of Joseph, the slavery of the Israelites, the hardening of Pharoah's heart, the setting apart of Israel, and finally - the deliverance of God's people.  It is a psalm, a song, to David's generation, his contemporaries.  David's song contains evidences of God's promises, God's judgement, God's provision, God's protection, and God's deliverance.  And it revealed a little about who David's God was to him.  The congregation listening to these words sung may have been convicted.  Some may have been deeply encouraged.  Some may have burst out in praise, honoring God for something He was doing in their life.  And the children no doubt listened, captured, introduced to a God who works mightily on behalf of His people, even in trials.  And, wait for it, this is important:

David's song can still be read today in the number one bestseller book of our time. 

What is my song? God has promised me an abundant place.  He has brought me through a divorce, a miscarriage, a baby's broken leg, a label of "unfit mother" that has been hard to run from, a nearly failed second marriage, financial lack, and the valley of depression.  He has delivered me from the bondage of lies, low self-esteem, destructive habits, and social anxiety.  I have felt His arms around me, I have heard His voice, and I have felt His hand of discipline.  I have a pile of stones from the Jordan so I can tell future genterations of His great love for them.  I have my own song to sing, that my God is a Promise-Keeper.  I have seen His hand of deliverance and have no doubt He will bring us into our promised land. 

Everyone has a song, a legacy, a pile of stones from the Jordan.  What is yours? Have you ever written it all out, like David, putting words to His works in your life?  God commands us to remember His hand in our life, not only to protect us from fear in hard times, but to help future generations hear and see that He is good. 

"Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!" Psalm 105: 1-2

Holy Java?!

One Sunday morning, as I stood in worship, relishing the delicious taste of coffee in my mouth and remembering the feeling I'd had that morning as I'd walked into the fresh brewed smell of my kitchen, I got it.  I remembered the Bible saying something somewhere about the smell of fat burning on the sacrificial altar being a pleasant aroma to the Lord.  I also remembered the Bible saying something somewhere about the Lord abhorring a sacrifice given with the wrong intentions, with ulterior motives.  And I stood there, worshipping Almighty Maker of heaven and earth, my Potter, my Redeemer, and my Prince of Peace, and whispered, "Lord, may my worship be your cup of coffee this morning, may it fill your throneroom with a delicous fresh-brewed aroma, may it wake you up to see that there is a people on this earth still filled with passion and longing at the mention of Your Name."