Well, life just got really busy with the beginning of this school year. There is so much involved in preparing for students, putting a classroom (speech room) together, and making sure my own children are prepared to start their school year. The sands of time are falling faster than my list of things to do is being checked off.
What are you spending your time focusing on right now? What commitments are forcing you to move around at lightening speed? Is your focus on Earthly things like mine has been lately or on Heavenly things which I have been ignoring?
When I was putting the contents of my desk back together, I came across an index card that I had written a reminder. I am not sure when I wrote it, but it was a message to keep the focus on what is in His plan for me, and not necessarily what I had planned for myself.
The top part of the index card had a phrase that I had heard (I think from church):
God’s first concern is not our happiness—it’s our holiness.
This truth struck me and stirred something inside of me while I was organizning my room. It is so easy to slip back into the pattern of keeping God at bay so we can take care of the more “important” things. I thought I would share with you the message that I wrote on this index card in case it would help someone else to keep their focus. I was lucky enough to find it at a time my hamster wheel was starting to turn. This is the reminder that I wrote:
I want to fast-track my way into what I want, but then I short-circuit His plan for me. God doesn’t want me to just focus on jobs, relationships…, so He isn’t going to give me the steps in my life until I stop and grow in my fellowship with Him.
When I’m in His Word, in prayer, and looking upwards, then He reveals His next step. It may not be the answer that I want, but it’s His answer, so it’s perfect for His will and plan in my life. He will let me suffer and in my suffering, I am drawn closer to Him; my character is building and my testimony is created. It’s all for His glory—not mine.
If you have one foot inside your hamster wheel and ready to jump on, I pray that this reminder will help you as well. As a Christian community, we need to be reminding each other of what our priorities should be because when God is the focus, everything else that is out of focus will soon be crystal clear.