taking time

Saturday, September 29, 2018 (7:26 a.m.)

Holy God,

Thank You.

My original plan was to avoid You today. Thank You for showing me the error in my thinking. Thank You for reminding me of the absolute importance of taking time to come before You, even [especially!] when I don’t think I want to.

If I’m being completely honest with You [as I always ought to be] I didn’t think, I KNEW I didn’t want to take time with You today. Coming before You means being honest with the fact that I have fallen back in to old patterns.

Sitting. Eating. Not feeling well. More sitting. More eating. Even more not feeling well.

Instead of examining the lack of healthy food choices, I’d much rather focus on the sore throat. The cough. The all over malaise.

Thank You Father that You would have none of that. Thank You that in looking up the word ‘avoid’ I came to the antonyms. Confront. Face up to. Seek out. Indulge in.

And here I am. Knowing that You would have better for me. You would have me examine my choices.

Because You love me, I get to confess not only the random, mindless and out of control food consumption I have been indulging in, but also the use of the time You have given me. Forgive me Father for the things I have been wasting.

Thank You for the call to “examine ourselves” (1 Corinthians 11:31). Reading The Life Recovery Bible comment for 11:27-30 I am again heartened by the tender care You take of each of us.

Thank You Father for the Truth of Your Word and the importance of taking time to ‘be diligent and turn from our indifference’ (Revelation 3:19). Thank You for the ways Your Truth infuses us.

You NEVER cease to amaze me Father! Just look at THIS comment: (Revelation) “3:14-21 … Sometimes after making progress in recovery we grow indifferent to our new lifestyle. We forget how desperate we were before entering recovery and that God is the one who set us free. We begin to long for things that will lead us back into bondage. We can avoid that long slide backward by taking honest moral inventory and getting back on track.”

Thank You Father! Avoiding You would not have yielded me Your Truth!

And back to the teaching of the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians) “11:27-30 In these verses Paul called the Corinthians to make a searching and fearless moral inventory of their lives. Some of them needed to recognize their pride and take steps to remove it. This is something we all need to do regularly; it must be a way of life for us. Spiritual growth, emotional growth, and recovery depend on our faithfulness in taking our personal inventory. Paul noted here that even physical illness can be the result of not examining our life before taking Communion. When we take the time for a regular moral inventory we will gain victory over the destructive forces in our life.”

Thank You Father. Praise You. Forgive me for falling backward into the random, mindless, out of control behaviors of my past. I love You. I need You. And I ask You to work in, with, by, through and for me as only You can. Thank You Father. I love You. Amen.

(563 words ~ 8:49 a.m.)