Packing up an apartment as the baseball season creeps into the final weeks, I found myself drifting away from my normal routine of reading my Bible, praying and listening for God’s guidance. How do we accumulate all the stuff that shows up in drawers and under beds in the six months of the baseball season? The busyness of my life increases and time with God decreases.
“We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” Hebrews 2:1
Packing all the stuff that accumulates takes up the time and space I usually give to God. Give-aways piled up under the table that holds the printer.
New shoes were bought when ‘needed’, and there IS a need I promise.
A new jacket HAS to be bought in Chicago each year, because who knew it was 30 below at night in July at Wrigley field?
Not even mentioning the bay breeze in San Francisco’s AT&T Park. Bargain buys are still adding more stuff to my packing at the end of the season.
More stuff, stuffing the free spaces. My attention turns to packing and decisions; should it stay or should it go? You know I may NEED it.
A pact I make with myself each year is to not be so busy and overwhelmed when I get back home. I plan days of relaxation in a quiet spot reading my Bible and a book or watching a movie but it never seems to happen. I hit the ground running.
This year I drove home early to an empty nest house, alone. The early return was to help with the re-entry after the season would be over. On the ride I asked my self what had changed. I was anxious and confused; misdirected and misguided. I felt disconnected from God.
“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” 2Corinthians 13:5
In a desperation to connect deeper with God, I planned a shutdown; a mental and to-do list shutdown. I text the hubby and the boys informing them as of midnight I would off the grid for 24 hours. My intentions were written and they were set in stone. I would not be busy for the next 24 hours. I would sit quietly and pray and read and connect with God, with me, with quietness.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2Corinthians 4:16-18
Fixing our eye on Jesus redirects our path and encourages believers to be emboldened in the power God has empowered us.
My 24-hour shutdown began slow. Thoughts of to-do’s, swirled in my head like a powerful hurricane. I prayed for God to calm my thoughts and remind me later of all the things I was afraid I would forget to do.
“Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
My thoughts slowed my heartbeat in a pattern of peace and comfort. I grabbed my Bible and began to read. Again my thoughts ran away from the words I was reading. I prayed for the Lord to make His Word all new and fresh, guiding me to what He needed me to emboldened by.
“For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind.” 2Timothy 1:7
God has given us a spirit of strength, power love and sound mind. We have the power to take our thoughts captive and to have the
strength to walk in that power of sound mind.
In the moments of asking God to make all things new, He does. He has made us new in our faith in Him. He makes His Word fresh each day we reach out to absorb it.
Decreasing the busyness increases our connection with God. What are some of the things in your busy life that draws you away from time with God? Can you take your schedule and thoughts captive and focus in a new fresh way on connecting with Jesus? What are some things that have helped you do that?
