I struggle less, or perhaps differently, when life is pear-shaped. When my only option is Jesus because everything else has crumbled.
But when things settle, the storm ends, and daily life returns, I struggle! Being thankful gets pushed aside for small (or large) annoyances. Being content is shrouded by project lists and wish lists; my default shifts from JOY in everything to frustration in the daily tasks.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that I want more pear-shaped days or seasons. No, ma'am. What I want is to live everyday with the same resolve and reliance on the Lord. But how?
Life is just so.....daily.
We do the laundry and the hampers are full again.
We feed all the mouths and they are hungry again (and again, and again, and again).
We do the dishes and the sink gets full again.
We sweep the floor only to have it covered in crumbs again.
You can find a million ideas about cooking once for the week, one day a week laundry systems, once a month grocery shopping, and the list goes on. In the hustle and bustle we have been taught it is normal to avoid things that are daily so we can fit more into our lives.
I'm not saying there is anything wrong with being efficient with our time (I love a good efficient system)--but are we being efficient so we can fit in more activities or are we being efficient so we can fit in more God? Please hear my heart, I am asking myself this question, too, and not loving that my honest answer is more activities.
We aren't likely to find ideas on "once a week quiet times", "how to know the heart of God in only 3 minutes a day", "pressure-cooker Jesus". Through the seasons of life, the time of day and duration of my bible reading has changed. And as much as I hate to admit that I already know it, time reading my bible is the answer to living every day with the same resolve and reliance on the Lord as I do when struggles hit. The more I am reading, the more I want to read, the more I want to understand, and the more I press in to learning more about God. Likewise, since the bible is living and active, the more I am reading, the more I am available to hear what the Holy Spirit is teaching me even from a passage I have read multiple times before.
I remember my high school Spanish teacher telling us that we'd know we were fluent when we starting thinking in Spanish rather than translating everything back to English in our heads. Suffice it to say, I never got there with Spanish. But in a lot of ways, we can take her definition of fluency and apply it to our daily lives. If all our daily things point us to the struggle of more daily things, maybe that is translating life back to my human understanding. Perhaps a sign of biblical fluency is reading something and having our minds jump to another scripture that relates or clarifies what we read? Or when we are living life, rather than being annoyed, we recall a truth about God that encourages our task.
It might look something like this:
We do the laundry and recall Psalm 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. My sin is filthy and only through Jesus am I cleansed white as snow.
We feed all the mouths and think of how God meets all our needs because he is Jehovah Jireh-The Lord will Provide. (Genesis 22:14)
We do the dishes (wash all the cups) and are reminded of Jesus' surrender to the will of God in the Garden of Gethsemane. He says "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." Matthew 26:39 I may not love the situation we are in or what God is asking of me but it isn't about my will.
We sweep the floor and our mind goes to Revelation 21:4 rejoicing that He will wipe [sweep] away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. God is HOPE. In what is coming, in restoration, in redemption.
The bible is first and foremost about God. Is it not a book purposed to help us get through our laundry-filled days. But maybe, our laundry filled days are purposed to point us back to God?!
Yes, life is just so.....daily!!
Originally posted 3/24/2020 at AdornedMinistries.com/blog
