I'm supposed to be taking a sabbath today, but so far I've blown it completely (both bathrooms cleaned, 3 loads of laundry & counting...) What's funny about this (when you ignore the whole disregarding God thing, which isn't funny at all) is that when I prayed this morning about where we should go next in the Bible, God led me to Ecclesiastes. Which is essentially a book about how we spend our lives flitting about doing this and that (cleaning sinks, washing towels), thinking it will make a difference, never pausing to realized that in the big picture, it really doesn't.
In my Bible, there's a note I wrote at the front of Ecclesiastes that says, "A response to the general messiness of human experience." That sounds like a good thing to explore, given where most of us are now in this spiritual adventure.
Read Ecclesiastes 1. Consider: What do you spend time doing that's meaningless? (And by meaningless, I don't mean fun, or how you relax, or guilty pleasures like Top Chef marathons on Sunday afternoons...I mean stuff that you don't like doing that you make yourself do before you can relax and spend time with God).
What do you think?
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3 comments:
Well ... (surprise, surprise!) ... housework would be pretty close to topping my list--HAHA!
My "formal" structured time with God is early in the morning ... so at that time of day what occupies my time (after having hit the snooze alarm several times before deciding to climb out of bed) is letting the dogs out to do some "business" (IMPORTANT!), making coffee (also IMPORTANT--WINK!), and emptying the dishwasher (Not so important).
I'm really into the idea that I can have a running dialog with Him throughout the day so that no matter what I'm doing I can "check in" with Him. I think he honors us for the "meaningless" things we do that benefit those we love anyway ... i.e., YUCKY housework, errands, cooking, etc.
Smiles,
Stella
PS--Trish: I'll bet Steve appreciates the clean home you keep!
I spend too much time worrying about work when I'm not at work.
It reminds me of how in your book you talked about how the various other forms of spirituality you dabbled with kept you busy...rearranging furniture, setting up alters, etc...whereas all Jesus asks us to do is come to Him. This is so hard for me sometimes. I'd rather "do" than just "be". I know how to get things done, I don't know how to always be still. I regularly set aside a new way that I'm going to spend time with God, but yet it never remains consistent. If I keep it going for a week I'm doing GREAT for me. Good things to think about and re-integrate into my life (AGAIN!)...thanks for your daily words of encouragement!
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