What do you do with 30 seconds?

February 2, 2020

Maria Habits, Philippians 4, Thoughts, Time , , 4 Comments

Six of us sat at the table Wednesday night at church.  As those gathered to pray together, we had broken off into small groups.  One by one we shared what was weighing us down, what we were desperate to hand over to God through the prayers of our sisters.

One gal asked us to pray that she would put to better use those small pockets of time in her day. Her default response to 30 seconds here and 2 minutes there has been to pull out her phone and check social media while she is waiting – whether in line at the grocery store, or for the light to turn green.  She confessed to knowing full well that exchanging the ‘free’ moments for scanning her social media go-to spots does not give her LIFE!

This confession could have been all of ours’; in fact it is!  Who doesn’t turn to her phone for a quick dopamine hit? I know I do.

Our sister already knew a better use of those moments.  She suggested that she could read Scripture (also on her phone) and/or pray. Both options would clear her mind of fluff, re-center her and give her something edifying to share with the next person she meets.

We prayed. For her and for us.

That was Wednesday.  Yesterday, Saturday, Mike and I headed out in the car for some errands. As we were driving to the first place, I told Mike about our Wednesday night praying for redeeming those fleeting free moments. I mentioned that as an addicted feed-scroller, I prayed that for me as well.

Mike pulled in to his barbershop.  I stayed in the car while he dashed in to make an appointment for later in the week.  Without thinking, I pulled out my phone to check……..Instagram!

But the next second, before I could tap on the icon, my Friend and Counselor, the Holy Spirit said, “Wait a minute, what were you just telling Mike?”

Convicted! How quickly I had forgotten.

Thanks to God’s timely reminder, I put down my phone and picked up with a strategy to think about God.  I used the alphabet to enumerate some of the gifts He has already given me:

A – You made me ABLE to hear and believe your Word.

B – Your presence is always BESIDE me, BEFORE me, BEHIND me, and BETWEEN me and danger.

C – You CHOSE me before you created the heavens or the earth.

D – You are bearing my burdens this DAY.

E – You have EQUIPPED me for today’s duties.

F – You gave me saving FAITH to trust you and your word.

I think I reached the letter J by the time Mike returned to the car.

Using this alphabet structure to enumerate some of God’s gifts to me is easy.  Another use would be to name an attribute or quality of God for each letter. Or maybe using the letters to pray for a friend. A for Anne.

What was the result of how I spent these 3 minutes?  I felt calmer, cleaner, more relaxed. And I KNEW beyond a shadow of a doubt that this use of the time pleased my Father.

Do you have a way of thinking about God and His Word that is your practiced default for those sleepless periods in the night or the ‘in-between’ moments of the day?  Share with us.  And may the Lord be pleased and glorified by our thoughts.

Phil 4:8 (NLT) And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 

 

 

How can I rejoice?

November 27, 2016

Maria Joy, Luke 1, Psalm 119, Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Luke 1:47

…and my spirit has begun to rejoice in God my Savior…

It was an ordinary day.  Maybe 13-year old Mary was kneading bread for the evening meal, a chore her mom might have left her to complete so she could head to the market. Maybe this young Hebrew girl was alone with the goats, distributing straw.

Whatever she was doing, she might have been musing about whether life with Joseph would be all that different than life at home.  She’d still working with other women in a family similar to hers. The daily and weekly tasks would be the same:  to supply Joseph’s household with food and clothing.  Of course, there would be children to raise, but not that first year, or at least not for 9 months…..

When I read Mary’s reaction to both the news AND the reality of her changed circumstances, i.e surprise pregnancy, I was struck by the wording of this New English Translation (NET) of Luke 1:47.  The text reads that Mary BEGAN to rejoice.

And that made sense.  Until her encounter with Gabriel and his announcement, Mary’s understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures would have been from her parents’ treatment of God’s word, from annual celebrations and local worship traditions.  I can well imagine that God’s truth had yet to penetrate her very soul.  There’s a hearing and there’s a HEARING.

But then….God’s word intruded into her life in more than a figurative sense.  Her Instagram hash tag might well have read #lifeinteruppted!

So how did Mary react?  She BEGAN to rejoice.  Before she encountered living Truth, I doubt she even thought of rejoicing.  For sure I can imagine she was happy to be engaged to a kind and hard-working man like Joseph.  Most likely she enjoyed her girlfriends in the village and felt comfortable in knowing the routine of Roman-occupied Galilee.  But rejoicing?  What was there to rejoice about?

Nothing,….that is until God’s Truth became real to her.  And so it is with us.  I don’t think I ever rejoiced in a deep and meaningful sense until the facts and promises of Jesus began to sink in to my consciousness. Yes, I was excited to travel to Europe, to leave home to attend college, to start work as a new lieutenant, to marry Mike, to give birth to Graham and then Wes.  But rejoice?  That is something categorically different.

Christians who have been ‘surprised by joy’ like CS Lewis or Blaise Pascal, startled by God’s heavy presence (Best Annotated version of The Pensées by Peter Kreeft) know a bit of what Mary experienced.  And they have rejoiced.

So what about us?  The truth is, even if we never experience the Holy Spirit’s heavy presence like Pascal or talk to an angel, we STILL have God’s living Word, given to us in written form.  We have access to TRUTH, which provides fuel for our rejoicing.  The facts and promises we receive by grace are precious.

Ps 119:162 – I rejoice in your word like one who discovers a great treasure.

If you haven’t BEGUN to rejoice, then this time of year is the perfect time to start reading and receiving as truth what the Bible declares and promises. Nothing else is going to last forever.  Nothing else is secure, unchanging, liberating, power-filled and life altering. Nothing else is worth this kind of exultation.

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