Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…;
“Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place.”
II Chronicles 7: 14-15 (NLT)
We have a lot on our minds, don’t we?
And a lot of time on our hands to think about, over and over, what’s on our minds. Maybe even too much.
Things that are good, and some things that are not so good, and often difficult.
Things we can face and deal with when we find the time, and things we can’t seem to bring ourselves to face no matter how much time we have. And we need to. But how do we?
Then add something to the mix that we’ve never heard of before, like a pandemic, which we’re doing our best to get under control here and around the world. And about the only thing we can do now—is to stay put, and if we come upon another fellow human being—to remain at least six feet apart.
A lot on our minds, a lot of time on our hands, and limited as to what we can do.
Interesting times. Times that a friend of mine said causes our FUD level to go sky high. FUD—Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Look around—FUD levels in folks around us have gone through the roof. Days where fear, uncertainty and doubt seem to be getting the best of our days.
So what do we do?
I wonder if during this period of “social distancing” and “staying put in our homes” it might be a good time to take an honest inventory of our lives as to what seems to be important in those lives we’re living.
Socrates is believed to have said—“An unexamined life is not worth living.”
So, maybe it’s a good time, with the extra time on our hands to examine the pathway of the lives we’re living.
Are they aligned with what the world says is important? Too often aimed at things which leave us disappointed when we don’t have what the world says is important, and dissatisfied when we have it, but don’t have enough compared to others.
Maybe it starts with an honest introspective evaluation as to what really is important to us. Is it important to us, how we want the world to see us? How do we want to define ourselves to the world?
What would the world says defines us?
But think about this one–what would God want to define us?
Money, houses, cars, stuff, wins, championships, and other important worldly targets and goals? In and of themselves, not bad, unless they interfere with what God says is important. But I’m not sure those things are on God’s list of what He wants us to embrace as truly important, anyway.
But how about time spent with Him, time with family—not just quality time but quantity, building relationships, lifting others’ lives—like maybe the widower next door who needs his lawn mowed, or the widow across town who needs an unexpected visit. How about time spent facing things you should have faced long ago—for your good and the good of others.
I wonder if those things are more in line with God’s list of important things for our lives.
As we go through our examination and evaluation of what’s important, changing things we need to change, and also moving toward what should be important, start here—draw nearer to the Christ of the empty tomb.
The Christ we just remembered at Easter.
The Easter we celebrate every year because of what Christ did for you and for me. The Christ who never leaves us alone, and always wants the best for us.
He is always waiting for us to turn to Him.
And I bet He’ll have some good ideas of what to do—with the time on our hands.
In His Name–Scott
