Invade my space

If I had not found joy in your teachings, my suffering would have destroyed me. I will never forget your commands, because through them you gave me new life. I am yours, so save me! I have done my best to know your instructions. The wicked tried to destroy me, but your rules made me wise. Everything has its limits, except your commands. (Psalm 119:92-96)

The remedy for life's challenges is to lean hard into God's promises and commands - to find direction, solace, and strength within the instruction laid out there. Find joy in God's teachings and you will find the "remedy" which sustains you even when there seems to be no deliverance or end. It is more than memory of scripture (although there is merit to hiding God's Word within our minds). It is more than frequent time in the Word (although we cannot learn from God's Word without the sacrifice of time). It is more than a Bible-reading plan for the year (although it might focus us a little). It is the deep, intimate, act of drawing close to God's heart that gets God's Word into us in such a way it will keep us when life's challenges head our way.

As a mother, I used to enjoy those times when I would sit and read a story to my kids, them drawing up to me close and listening intently. They'd run their toes up and down my back, twist their hair around their fingers, nuzzle their teddy, and run the tiny truck back and forth across the bed. Something happened in those moments of just "connecting" with each other. We found closeness and bonds which cannot be broken because of this connection which occurred often and with regularity. Now I continue this with my grandsons - although we may not read as much anymore, we can talk about the latest welding or leather creation, the other creative ideas they have, and the observance of things they saw that day. In those moments, connection is made - connection which cannot be broken despite the pressures, pulls, and prevailing winds of time.

We don't recognize the importance of just sitting to enjoy God's presence until we haven't had it for a while. We don't miss what we have not realized is missing until we finally "miss it". The adage, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder", is indeed true. To "miss" something, one has to have drawn close and experienced it in the first place! Too many times we have a cursory appreciation of God's grace - but when we experience the depth and breadth of his grace fully - we don't want to ever be separated from the way that makes us feel. God's plan is for us to experience him - so that his words get deep into our being - affecting the depths and crags of our inner man within those places the world has tried so hard to affect with the pressures it brings. The world adds rocks, sand, and even immovable objects in our path - but even with those present, there is room for grace to invade the spaces those things cannot! Grace has no limits - there is no space his grace cannot invade! Just sayin!

Growing old

Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives. (Psalm 90:13, 14)

The brevity of life isn't really felt in our youth - it is felt more as the decades pass, the work winds down, and the days seem to pass faster than we ever thought they could. A day speeds by, soon it is a month gone, then we ring in a whole new year. Is it possible that time really does fly? As youngsters, days just drug on, making us think we'd never get to do all those 'important things' we were dreaming of doing. Then we got a bit older, and our days were filled to overflowing with all manner of work, business, and things that 'just had to be done'. 

As our careers wound down, hobbies became our main focus, and now the things we thought so important to accomplish in our youth somehow don't matter all that much. What matters now? The hugs we shared along the way, the moments we just sat at the shoreline hoping for a slight tug on the line, and the times when we just laughed until our sides hurt. We might not think life is brief, but as we get closer to the end, it seems like there was so much we missed along the way.

One of the greatest prayers we can bring to God's feet is to ask him to teach us the brevity of life. It actually helps us focus on what is important in the here and now, focusing less on the things we imagined to be so important. There is more in a moment than we realize, but we have to stop long enough to appreciate what it is! No time spent with God, contemplating his goodness, experiencing his creation, and listening intently to his voice is ever wasted or 'unimportant'. We have lots of 'important stuff' to get to today, but it can wait! There is more satisfaction in our day when we find our satisfaction in him first and foremost in our day. 

We grow in a natural sense, but God desires for us to grow in a spiritual sense, too. We don't 'get wisdom' because we 'do stuff'. We find wisdom because we stop doing stuff and just spend time with him. We grow as we get still. That seems to be a bit of an oxymoron, doesn't it? The more we settle into his presence, the more we grow. There is a song that comes from deep within our hearts when we allow the moment with him to happen - we find there is purpose in our day that wasn't there without him. Just sayin!