Too busy for God?

If you have time for facebook, then you have time for God! 

I wrote this  blog a month ago and didnt post it and so it has a bit of then and a bit of now in it.

This blog is mainly for myself, but I am sure that almost every Christian can identify with it. We all have busy lives, but I feel that I  am too busy. Even though I do have a "quiet time" in the morning before the household awakes,it had dwindled down to once or twice a week at the most and wasn't very long and often I was  just "too tired" to get up that extra hour earlier.

All we have to do is look around us today to see the evidence of this sad truth. And where has all of our busyness gotten us? For starters, it's made us more tired, stressed out and sick. This is not the way to enjoy life! Plus, our busyness also effects our relationships.

A wise man once said, "If you're too busy to spend time with God, then you're too busy!" If we don't spend regular, quality time with those we love-- including God--our relationships will be shallow, meaningless, and unfulfilling.

I needed to make more time for God.
That night I was mulling  this over, wondering on how, where, to make more room for God, as my day is so full as it is. I really wanted to and it just didn't seem possible. This is  when I clearly heard in my spirit, " If you have time for facebook, then you have time for God".  It stopped my thoughts dead in their tracks! I realized that I fill in a lot of the gaps in the day with a quick facebook post here and a check check on what my friends are doing there.

The truth is that I had my my priories all wrong. I say had, as I am now writing in present tense again, although I am sure that there are many priories that still need adjustment.   I began to formulate a plan on how to put God first in my life and not to schedule him in a time slot. In my busy life, God had moved down the ladder. It was a gradual process, and I cant even say when it started happening.

That night I decided to re-dedicate my mornings back to God. I also need to slow this "time" down, to be able to get back to a place where I can be still and know that He is Lord. A time to listen. In my busy life,  my prayer and worship time had even become busy, and I had forgotten to "stop and smell the roses".
Since I have started re-dedicating a morning time, I have once again been drawn towards contemplative prayer. I know that I desperately need to listen to God, and really just soak in His spirit once more. My prayer life has also opened up and now it seems that my morning time is too short.

I was thinking again ( I do a lot of thinking),  on how I am now going to get up half an hour earlier as I didn't see getting up at 05.30 being very easy.
God has a funny sense of humour. In fact, I find Him very humourous.You see, I have started spinning again at gym, and the only classes I will be able to do are the 06.00am ones, which means I have to get up at 05.25 then, in order to get there on time.
The next challenge is what to do about my quiet time and spinning time on the same day. But I am sure if I leave it to God, he will find a way, and not the other way around, which is what I am apt to do.

As I begin my journey once again into contemplation, I will keep you posted. In today's Christian world, this is not regular practice, but it really is truly vital. Richard Foster writes how its in these small quiet times, totally alone that we truly begin to know who God is. The monks sure got it right all those years ago! I love his book Celebration of discipline and Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home.

Its  almost 10pm and so time to log off and go to bed in order to go "spinning" tomorrow.

I am a very healthy eater, but todays CONFESSION is..... sadly, I like chicken polony. I honestly do.

Goals need to be put in writing in order to achieve them. Then we need to weekly/monthly/yearly review them, depending on what the goal is.

1 corinthians:9-26 NIV Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.
 NLT So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.
Pr 3.6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

This week's goals.

• eat less bread
• keep up the journalling
• keep up the quiet time. Aim for 3-4 times, lest I fail and punish myself.
• keep thinking of ways to spend less. ( very hard), but i must put this in writing.
• eat only 1 portion of food at meal times. (no second helpings)

Last week:

• Last month I decided not to buy blue "water" toilet freshener. My toilet does not need to flush dark blue water. But for years I have done this as I dont like to see what is "in" the toilet. However, temptation was so great that as I walked down the household disenfectant isle, I bought one. This week, my blue loo, ran out, and so I have sent Rob shopping with the list to help kick this habit.

• I failed badly on the bread issue. Try again this week.

Reflections from the desert

Here is my heart I give it Lord to You
Here is my life I lay it before You
Where else could I go
And what else could I do, if I did not know you?

How deeply I need You my Lord

Like the desert needs the rain......I need You
Like the oceans need the streams.....I need You
Like the morning needs the sun..... I need You

Lord You are my only one
(Darrell Evans)

This echo's my thoughts today.

When I realised God was leading me back into the desert I was angry.
No I was more than angry, I was mad as hell and deeply upset.
Why would He do this to me....again?
Doesn't He know that I have been knocking and knocking on that door, only to get a glimpse of what lay behind it, and now its shut firmly. What kind of loving Father is He?
And so on and so forth went my thoughts.

Then with the desert came the depression.
Come on Lord, give me a break here please.
And with the desert came the chronic fatigue again...and the pain.

Once again I pleaded, Lord give me a break....damn it.

You see, I had been in a beautiful place.
A place where the joy of the Lord was bubbling within me 24/7
I would wake up with a song on my lips and so I would then praise God from that song all day.
I had also been in 24/7 "prayer streaming" mode with Him. We would talk and talk all day and I just basked in the Glow of the Lord....literally.
I could not wait to read the word. Every page came alive for me.

In this phase I just drank deeply from the "well of life" and I loved living.

Now.....argh! The bible is a heavy weight of a book. Prayer is argh...completely dead to me. I have to force myself and remind myself to pray. Force myself to praise Him. My contemplative prayer is gone, as I just have no desire to meditate.

Something in me changed this week end as I pondered over this situation. I remembered the vision of the elephant recently and then the penny dropped! The light came on.

I will share more of this in my next blog.

Spiritual Weakling?

I have had a very rough two weeks. My fatigue has been incredibly bad, and I would link that to the stress that I am going through with work. We have had some restructuring of our business and it has been very hard emotionally on me.

I have a little prayer card that I wrote down from Col 3 15-17.

Let the peace of Christ rule in my heart. Let the word of Christ dwell richly in me.

And in whatever I do, in word or deed, I will try do it all in the name of Jesus.

I have not tried to dwell on the issue to much, but being right in the situation, I have had no peace. Time and time I have handed this over to the Lord, but I can honestly say I have not stepped back enough to give it completely over to Him. The crux of the matter is I honestly don't know how to do this.

Why can I totally hand some issues over and others, I dont know how to step away from them?

Its not a trust issue here, but I think perhaps a personality one.Why do I allow myself to get so worked up and upset?

From today I am going to say "Father,I chose to hand today over to you. Teach me to walk in peace through this period."

I took these two pictures on holiday. They are very peaceful. Just looking at them reminds me that our creator made all. How big our God is, and how little my problems are.
God, you are wonderful, loving, merciful, good, just,and kind. Thank you for your patience with me.
Your loving daughter
Karen

My aim in life......practice the presence of God

I have just started the book Practice the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence

My desire is to be continually in God's presence throughout the day. I do pretty well doing this, doing menial tasks that don't involve thinking, such as house work, gardening, or walking on the treadmill, but once I sit down in my office to work, my brain switches to work mode and stays like that.

Hopefully this book will share some insight into how to incorporate secular and my faith all day long.