What do you typically think of on a Monday morning? “Oh, no, back to the rat race.” Does life seem a lot like you are a hamster running on a wheel and getting nowhere? Does life seem like a big to do list for you? Or are you enjoying your life and living each day with purpose?
Today, being June 1, is a good day to start fresh and do some attitude checks. This morning, as I read Psalm 5, verse 3 jumped out at me.
“Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.”
Several things spoke to me here. “Each morning”. I can’t say I consistently come to Him at the beginning of my day. Sometimes I am just not feeling very awake at 5:30 AM. But it is something I want to do. Where do I get the idea that I am too busy to linger a little in the morning with my Bible and a cup of coffee? The dishes or the office paperwork aren’t that urgent that I have to start them at the crack of dawn. Sometimes it is easy to let doing FOR God get in the way of spending time WITH God.
The second part of the verse says “I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.” I think somewhere along the line the busy pace of life has squeezed out waiting expectantly. How wonderful that sounds, sitting at the Lord’s feet and waiting expectantly! That is the way to start any day, expecting Him to meet you there and expecting Him to walk with you through your day. Isn’t that what Mary was doing when Martha was bustling about? Why is it so easy for the Martha side of us to take over?
There is something that feels good about our Martha side. Can you picture her saying, “All of a sudden, 13 extra people showed up for dinner, with no notice, and I pulled it off! I got them all fed and saved the day!” There is a sense of accomplishment in being needed and coming through and filling apparent physical needs. It’s nice to have other people recognize you as reliable and helpful and someone they can count on. Sometimes this need for recognition or wanting to feel useful may cause us to take on things we shouldn’t. Just because we are capable of doing them, doesn’t mean we are the ones that should be doing them. God does not love us any more because we do more. He loves us because we are His. In our busy life, God is calling the Martha in us to sit down at His feet and get what she needs from Him!
That got me thinking. I wear a lot of hats. At the office, it seems that every time someone steps down from something, it has quite logically got handed over to me. The finances, the newsletter, the website, the secretarial tasks. And while I am quite capable of doing those, and have enjoyed them, some days it seems that repetitive busy work is sapping the joy out of my job. It seems I spend a lot of time with paperwork, and not enough time with people. I know that realizing this, God is preparing me for change. Not today, not next month, probably not in 2009, but I think He will have me laying down some hats in the year 2010, keeping the ones that suit me best, or maybe picking up some new ones. My heart cry is less paperwork and more people, less filing and more filling with His spirit.
As I have just finished my Associates Degree, people keep asking me “What now?” Let’s just say I am waiting expectantly….
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