Skip to main content

"This is the day"


It’s funny how life is composed of a few “significant,” key moments and many ordinary moments that we consider “insignificant.”

Think about it: most of us have routines that we follow each weekday with very little deviation. I wake up at the same time, follow the same pattern to get ready each day, hop in my car and drive the same route to work. However, despite the familiarity of my schedule, how am I living and perceiving each day?

We spend many of these “ordinary” days simply anticipating our next significant event – looking forward to our next planned occasion and wishing away time until our calendars reach a certain date. We count down the days of many work weeks, wanting time to pass quickly to Friday afternoon. Is that really how God wants us to live?

I think that God wants us to be expectant, enjoying Him and eagerly anticipating His actions each day. The Israelites demonstrated this for us beautifully. Despite the HUNDREDS of years they had been waiting for Him, the Gospel of Luke tells us that they looked eagerly for the messiah who would save them and fulfill the prophesies that their ancestors had proclaimed. They were so eager and alert that they even mistook John the Baptist for the messiah - Luke 3:15 says, “The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ.” Despite their years of waiting with long gaps in between “significant” or “noteworthy” advancements, these people remained faithful to God and watched for Him to fulfill his promise every day. Beyond waiting expectantly for the messiah, though, these people worshipped and obeyed Him EVERY day. They believed that He would do as He said, but they loved Him regardless of His timeline.

Ouch. Do we do that? Do we look for God, praising Him and asking Him to make each and every day of our lives significant for His purposes, or do we tune out, yearning for the next exciting event planned on our agendas? Do we get excited to wake up and be with Him each morning, or do we groan and shuffle around getting ready for “just another day?” Do we see each day as a gift and an opportunity to reflect Him through our thoughts, words and actions, or do we get annoyed when our prayers aren’t answered instantaneously? Do we even keep believing and loving Him when we don’t see prayers answered immediately, or do we allow our hearts to harden and become bitter?

Heavy questions, I know. Bottom line is this - I think many of us simply try to fill our time without asking God to fill us with Him all of the time. Of course we will remember milestones in our minds more concretely than we will remember what we ate for breakfast three years ago, but are we truly enjoying the abundant life He desires to give us, letting Him be the source of our joy, or simply watching minutes tick by until it’s time for the next externally-stimulating event? Food for thought.

“This is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Olivia Kate Update

We expected a routine appointment. Last April, the cardiology team told us that we did not have to return for another check-up on the hole in Olivia's heart for a full year. This was music to a mom's and dad's ears! Since her pediatrician had noticed the severe murmur in her heartbeat when she was just four days old, we'd visited the cardiologist office several times to monitor any changes in heart function. So far, it seemed that this hole was not causing any problems, and the doctors said that it might even close on its own. The ultrasounds of Olivia's heart today revealed a different story, unfortunately. The left side of her heart has enlarged slightly over the last year, which tells us that this precious organ is under a bit of stress due to the turbulence of the extra blood flowing in and out of the hole. The first cardiologist who reviewed the ultrasounds with us today told us what we really did not want to hear: Olivia is heading down the path that req...
10 comments
Read more

Not a Disappointment

I recently received some disappointing news, which led to an awesome, very deep talk with my husband. Interestingly, through this conversation, God revealed that I have been believing a significant lie: that I am a disappointment to several key people. I realized that I have been believing that I am a disappointment to my husband, co-workers, and some friends. I have been hearing lies about my weaknesses as a wife (ex: my cooking skills), my abilites at work (not good enough), and how good of a friend I am to certain people (ex: I don't reach out to them enough, I'm too focused on myself, etc.). The enemy has been working to convince me that I'm a disappointment to some of the people I hold dearest. And I haven't been making him work very hard - I've fallen for his schemes hook, line, and sinker. For a while, I've had a hard time understanding why I feel I am a self-confident person, yet I struggle with insecurities in so many areas. God showed me that it...
5 comments
Read more

Jonah and the Worm

My sister gave me a book for Christmas that I finally picked up to read last week. The book – Jonah and the Worm by Jill Briscoe – is a children’s book with deep meanings, and I am so glad that I finally began to read it. It’s kind of like Shrek or other animated movies that are cleverly written to be enjoyed by both children and their parents. The book tells the story of Jonah from the Bible focusing on the perspective of the worm in the story. Details are embellished, but the timing and schedule of events is the same as the Biblical account. This short little book contains really profound truths that have jumped off the page at me. For example, the worm receives a message from God that he should travel to Ninevah, though God doesn’t give him an explanation as to why. Travelling to Ninevah means leaving behind his family and familiarity, but he decides to obey and go where the Lord is sending him – even though he doesn’t know what purpose God has for him there. On his way to Ninevah...
Post a Comment
Read more