Carrie Hildebrand writes:
SUMMER VACATION IS OFFICIALLY HERE! What are you doing this summer? Have you made any special plans or are you just excited not to be in school anymore? Have you been to the pool yet? I AM SOOOOOOOOOO GLAD SUMMER IS HERE!
Another word for vacation is rest. Taking a rest from the serious business of life, which, if you are a "Young Heart," is most likely school. Everybody needs a rest sometimes. Did you know that God thinks it is so important that we rest, that He made it one of the Big 10 - to keep the Sabbath? (He also instituted lots of festivals and feasts, but that's another story.) The pagan cultures around the Israelites worked 7 days without a break, but God wanted His people to stop, rest, and celebrate His presence in their lives.
I thnk that last phrase is the crucial one for the meaning of Sabbath rest. That's what gave the rest meaning and helped them energize for the next week. Have a great meal, enjoy good company and together remember God's faithfulness in the past week as they looked ahead to the next.
Often in our culture today, relaxing is checking out some movies and disengaging from life as we know it. It often feels good to escape. We like to be amused. "Muse" comes from a word meaning "to think" and "a" is a prefix meaning without. So without thinking. Unplug. Right?
But what God really wants for us in rest is that we plug in. To Him! Enjoy on purpose a blessing that He has given you, like a strawberry ice cream cone, and thank Him for it. See all around you the friends He has blessed you with. Spend time laughing with them and thank Him for it. Feel the sunshine on your back as you swim or lay out and thank Him for it. Take a great nap, stand up and stretch and thank Him for it! I Timothy 6:17 tells us that God "richly supplies us with all things to enjoy." (NASB) Did you catch that? He wants you to enjoy your summer rest. He has supplied you with many rich and wonderful blessings. Some are big, some are little. Savor them all this summer and THANK HIM FOR IT!
Plug in and enjoy.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Got Milk?
OK, so I wanted to start this blog out with something really clever like, "Got prayer?" But then it made me wonder if you could have a prayer mustache. Thankfully, no. But let's take those two very random (I agree) thoughts and see if they'll take us anywhere worthwhile. Seems iffy, I know.
Got prayer?
It does do a body good, but I'm sure it's not something you have, like a good luck charm or special skill. It isn't a vending machine that, if you press G and then 5, will produce your desired outcome - namely a package of Oreos. Now I do need milk! It's just totally not about you, really. And isn't that a good thing. Because if it were about me - if I were talking to myself and depending on my performance or abilities - I would be in serious trouble.
Thank goodness that prayer is two way communication with the Holy God who created the universe and still desires relationship with us today.
Prayer mustache?
I'm also sure that prayer doesn't leave you with that smirky smile you see in the ads as if feeling somehow superior. I do hope it leaves a mark (hopefully not a mustache). If it does, it should be the mark of humility.
I recently read Psalm 139 with fresh spiritual eyes. Ever had that happen? You open to a scripture thinking, "Oh, I've read this lots of times, I think I know this already." Ha! (And, not very humble, either.) Anyway, I started reading and came across verse 16 which says,
"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before
one of them came to be."
Wow! He already knows what every day of my life will look like all the way through to the end before any of them ever happened! Ok, I knew that before, but now check out the next verse.
"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them."
I had never connected those two verses together. You know, if He already knows all my days, shouldn't His thoughts on what will fill my plate today be precious to me? As I make decisions, do I ask for His leading and expect an answer? Are His thoughts precious to me? Do I wait until I hear from Him?
That is humility, realizing that I am not the one in control or in the center of the universe. That is prayer, putting priority on approaching the throne of God and asking the One who is sovereign and good to allow you just a little bit of the vast sum of His thoughts. It brings us peace to know He is so far above us. So much more mighty. That does my body good.
During May we observe the National Day of Prayer. Thank goodness that the "vast sum" of thoughts that God has includes the plans He holds for our nation. I hope that every day is a day of prayer for us, because we shouldn't attempt to go through a single day on our own strength when we have the opportunity to have a relationship with and communicate with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Got prayer?
It does do a body good, but I'm sure it's not something you have, like a good luck charm or special skill. It isn't a vending machine that, if you press G and then 5, will produce your desired outcome - namely a package of Oreos. Now I do need milk! It's just totally not about you, really. And isn't that a good thing. Because if it were about me - if I were talking to myself and depending on my performance or abilities - I would be in serious trouble.
Thank goodness that prayer is two way communication with the Holy God who created the universe and still desires relationship with us today.
Prayer mustache?
I'm also sure that prayer doesn't leave you with that smirky smile you see in the ads as if feeling somehow superior. I do hope it leaves a mark (hopefully not a mustache). If it does, it should be the mark of humility.
I recently read Psalm 139 with fresh spiritual eyes. Ever had that happen? You open to a scripture thinking, "Oh, I've read this lots of times, I think I know this already." Ha! (And, not very humble, either.) Anyway, I started reading and came across verse 16 which says,
"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before
one of them came to be."
Wow! He already knows what every day of my life will look like all the way through to the end before any of them ever happened! Ok, I knew that before, but now check out the next verse.
"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them."
I had never connected those two verses together. You know, if He already knows all my days, shouldn't His thoughts on what will fill my plate today be precious to me? As I make decisions, do I ask for His leading and expect an answer? Are His thoughts precious to me? Do I wait until I hear from Him?
That is humility, realizing that I am not the one in control or in the center of the universe. That is prayer, putting priority on approaching the throne of God and asking the One who is sovereign and good to allow you just a little bit of the vast sum of His thoughts. It brings us peace to know He is so far above us. So much more mighty. That does my body good.
During May we observe the National Day of Prayer. Thank goodness that the "vast sum" of thoughts that God has includes the plans He holds for our nation. I hope that every day is a day of prayer for us, because we shouldn't attempt to go through a single day on our own strength when we have the opportunity to have a relationship with and communicate with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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