I tell the Lord I don’t know how to go deeper, and I’m willing to go but I don’t even know what it looks like, and He’ll have to take me there.
I tell Him I want to do some songwriting right now if that’s okay, and He is doing it with me, He’s teaching me while I write and sing.
I take a walk and I see the tips of the empty branches gravitating, stretching with all their might, to the sky above, and I see Him saying, “All the world reaches to Me, lift your eyes, lift your arms, I’ll let you touch heaven!”
I do believe in a set aside time for Bible reading, journaling, stillness, intercession…for myself, that’s what grounds me and aligns my heart to His. I do sit down and like I was taught as a youth, I often go through A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanks, Supplication) because it keeps me from rambling and getting lost in my own thoughts. I need these disciplines, and it’s a main way He speaks to me. It’s been wonderful to have more time for this, it actually sets my eyes on Him in a greater way so that in the daily stuff of life I can see Him clearer.
Because it’s the moment-by-moment fellowship that I’m enjoying the most. Just being.
The reason my family has made changes in our lives is to eliminate stress…Trying to be “more for God” is just a stress. I am learning to just be (again).
Here’s some truth: When we’re cleaning the house or finishing a to-do list, we don’t have to be interceding or memorizing scripture or even listening to worship music to go deeper with God. Maybe we will, or maybe we will bless Him by being thankful for each person we’re serving. Maybe we do those tasks with pride and joy because we’re grateful to have them and the strength to do them!
Doing homework with the kids, working, night time routines…they are life, not just things we have to do in life. If we don’t appreciate the every day, we don’t appreciate our life.
We can serve, live, work, listen, respond, give, and take in this lifetime and wait for free time, wait for excitement, wait for a chance to do something great…or we can realize every chance to do those things IS something great.
We are learning perseverance, gratitude, forgiveness, self-control. We are sacrificing for the good of others, we are enjoying company and being enjoyed, we are seeing how we can make another’s life easier and better. We are using spiritual gifts, we are becoming better versions of ourselves, or maybe we’re just learning to laugh and play again. What else might we be looking for in life? Recognition or fame or wealth or getting ahead? Forget it. If we are looking for God, we won’t find Him there. He is here. Right where we are.
The ordinary daily life is miraculous. If you have a friend, a home, a talent, a body, you have a miracle to work with! Our normalcy is a miracle. God gave it and is in every detail of it. We can honor and worship Him, and in the meanwhile bring lots of joy and peace to ourselves and others, by recognizing it and doing things, even seemingly meaningless things, with creativity and care and asking Him to reveal His glory and purpose in the beauty all around.
There’s no one way to commune with God. There’s no one way to bless His name and His heart, or learn, or go deeper. Every day is a chance for Him to show us more ways. We don’t know them, but He does, and He will reveal it to anyone who will ask! I’m asking. I’m learning. I’m living!
“Are you content to be ordinary? Are you treasuring every day because it is spent with Him? Or are you treasuring only the days that you are conscious He is using you? There is great healing in ordinary duties. The ability to do them. The privilege of doing them! If you do your labor in the Lord, it has profit. If you do your labor as some interruption of grandiose lie, then your labor is without profit.”
-Martha Kilpatrick
