Charged?

 

Good evening!  I have been thinking about something for the past few days.  I imagine that some of us have a plan this year to "do better" with getting into our Bible reading time or prayer time or any sort of spiritual growth and development.  I am in the habit of reading each morning and have been that way since I was in my early teens.  Some days I have those light bulb moments and know beyond doubt that I am reading EXACTLY what I needed to read at just that moment.  Other days I catch something that I had never before noticed in a familiar scripture passage.  And there are also days where I read something and God's Word settles down into my spirit and later that day or week I wind up in conversation with someone where what has been deposited into me is exactly the thing that is a blessing to them in the moment that our paths cross.  I LOVE how God does that!  And then there are the days that may seem more mundane in comparison.  Life is just not a unending chain of mountaintop moments!  The main thing is to set aside the time, open your Bible, your mind and your heart and dig in!  If you are looking for a place to begin or plug-in with your own Bible study, I would be glad to share some resources.  

The part that I am really working on is the part where AFTER I read, I take some time to just reflect and be still.  Quieting my mind can be the biggest challenge!  I am so quick to be on to the next thing on the list.  Yet some of the most fulfilling and meaningful moments come when I STOP and just wait to hear from God.  Even just the quality of the purposeful "quiet" goes a long way!  Too often I am off and running for the next thing rather than allowing the words that I have read to really begin to work down into the soil of my being.

The other day we were getting ready to go somewhere and the kids and my husband had been using my phone for a variety of things.  I looked at the screen and was like, "Are you kidding me?!?!"  The battery was down to nothing and no one had plugged in the thing to charge.  They are usually pretty good about taking care of that.  We have the car charger but it is kind of slow and rather lame and we were not going to be driving for all that long anyways.

Then it hit me all at once - how often do I approach my days with a low charge spiritually?  What if I kept an eye on "charging" that area as closely as I tend to be aware of the remaining charge on my phone?  I STOPPED and stood still in my kitchen as I pondered this realization.  I thought of John 15 where Jesus talks about how He is the Vine and we are the branches.  We have got to stay connected to our source or we can do nothing!  If we want to be fruitful in life, we must remain in Him.  When we live in obedience to Him, our joy is complete.  Just like my phone running on a low battery and eventually shutting down, the same thing will happen to me if I do not take the time to recharge spiritually.  And the source of this power comes from outside of myself!  Apart from Him, I come up empty!

As we begin 2015, there is a verse that has been meaningful to me for many years and has become my current focus and prayer - "Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word." (Psalm 119:37)  Those "worthless things" will suck the life right out of us!  If we want to "preserve" our charge, we have to be rooted in His Word, with our eyes fixed on Him as we navigate our days.  This is a lifelong endeavor!  Some days we do really well and other days not so much.  As I get ready to take on my day tomorrow, I will be asking myself for a screen shot of my heart - how does the level of charge look?  It is a given that the daily stuff of life can be draining.  Thankfully we have a source who is always available to us!  It is up to us to pause and plug-in there.  

Here is a song that I have been listening to often this past week - "This I Know" from Crowder.  I