Friday, February 27, 2009

Where do we look?


Papa has been speaking to me the last couple days. He has been mentioning the importance of looking at Him only and staying in the now... the today.
Too many times we find ourselves living either in the future or in the past. We find ourselves worrying about what we did or what we will do. Between our past, our present duties and our future anxieties, we find ourselves living half-mindedly.
If I am focusing on what I did or what I may do, am I focusing on Him? No, not likely. I am seeking after an idol and therefore, falling off the path that Papa has laid out before me. Are we looking to the past in order to control the future? By looking to the future, do we think that we can change today? There it is, the ugly thing in us all, the need to control.
I found good news though, "He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness." We have a promise in Jesus! If we let go, He will lead us. We will find ourselves at peace because He is in the driver's seat.
I don't know about you, but I want to be lead by Him. I want to have that peace that surpasses all understanding. I want to live joyfully today, no matter what tomorrow may bring. I want to cling to the above promise.
Jesus said it best, "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." (Matt 6:34 MSG)
Paul Young, author of The Shack, wrote the following, "Would I like an actual office area rather than this desk down in this crowded unfinished basement…sure! But whether I have it or not makes absolutely no difference to me…this is what I have ‘today’ and I am so grateful for it, so full of thanksgiving. Tomorrow is a myth and a drunk driver or a little wayward cell in my body could obliterate any expectation I could have. I only have grace for today and in embracing a life being loved…I am FREE!"
Max Lucado quotes Sir William Osler, in his book, 'Traveling Light'. He says, "Think not of the amount to be accomplished, the difficulties to be overcome, but set earnestly at the little task near your elbow, letting that be sufficient for the day; for surely our plain duty is not to see what lies dimly at a distance but to do what lies clearly at hand."
Jesus is our lamp unto our feet .... not a flashlight in our hand. Let Him lead you today!
With love,
S

3 comments:

  1. Hey Daughter;

    Yours above is a good Word!

    Congratulations on your new Blog and your first public post. As always, I'm very proud of you!

    If we can agree that Jesus Followers are called to die...
    * what need has has a dead man for a leader?
    * or, for that matter, either a flashlight or a lamp?

    Are not maybe the wisest among us simply letting Jesus, who died so He could to to live inside us live his life out through us as "dead men walking" (Galatians 2:20 http://is.gd/lmVf).

    Blessings & love!
    Dad

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  2. Hey, Shawna. Loved what you wrote. And likewise inspired. Great thought about the lamp vs. the flashlight!

    He is so much into now, and yet somehow not bound by time! What an incomprehensible God we have! Maybe that is part of the key; to enter into that eternal perspective at all times? The eternity that dwells, however dormant, already in our hearts?

    Gary, do you think the lamp is relevant because of the everyday lives we live and decisions we make? We are dead and yet somehow alive at the same time, with the opportunity to make wise and even impacting decisions every day. His living Word is that lamp that makes all things immediately in front of us . . . clear.

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  3. beautiful start, shawna!
    (and I love being able to see your paintings!)

    xo
    s

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