Hermit Crabs

I had become one. A hermit crab, I mean. I'm not really sure how it happened, I just looked up one afternoon and realized I was one.

My husband thought I was depressed.
Not sure what my kids thought.

I lacked motion. I wanted to be home. Stay home. Be with the kids, not with my friends. No coffee dates. No dinner out. No lunches or bagels or coffee. Just home.

It came to me later. A check. A quiet voice. A scratch at my shell, as it were.
I had allowed the cares of this world to still His voice, and allowed my thoughts to turn inward instead of upward.

Then, after a meeting with a precious saint, I got hold of the real problem: my heart had grown cool toward my King. I had forgotten to praise. Now, I am not normally a depressed person. I don't have major emotional outbursts or highs and lows. I am generally joyful. Kinda like that crab that just goes about it's business and keeps on moving along. Yet I had let my joy slip away, and didn't even notice it's passing. Praise God for that saint, that listened to my heart and didn't judge me. She simply agreed that my assessment was correct, and pointed up.

I'm glad crabs aren't all hermits. I'm really glad that hermit crabs don't stay in the same shell and refuse to move onto better homes, better pastures. I am even more glad that I, too have moved on. Praise is so sweet! God's Word so rich. Now, I look up.

Simple Basics

Rubenstein, the great musician, once said, "If I omit practice one day, I notice it; if two days, my friends notice it; if three days, the public notice it." It is the old doctrine, "Practice makes perfect." We must continue believing, continue praying, continue doing His will. Suppose along any line of art, one should cease practicing, we know what the result would be. If we would only use the same quality of common sense in our religion that we use in our everyday life, we should go on to perfection. Streams in the Dessert

Prayer. The simplest of the Christian basics, yet the one we so easily dismiss. We don't see the answer as we supposed, or we don't see it as a need that requires prayer. Or, we just don't stay focused. Whatever the reason, the answer is clear. Pray. Whether you don't take the situation seriously, or you seriously don't understand your deep need for communication with your Lord - you are lacking.

Every situation requires prayer. Getting up in the morning- and what you may face. Having coffee, or not. Which way to get to work/school/the gym. When to speak to the child's teacher. When to speak to your spouse about that thing in the garage/check book/doctor's office. What to say to that friend/co-worker/clerk/rude driver. What to make for dinner.

I am finding this to be more truth than I have realized before. More needful each moment. More precious. More challenging. God wants me for Himself. He wants to have fellowship with me, more communication. He wants to find me listening. Talking, sharing. See, the funny part in all this, is God. He desired communication with me. Fellowship. with Me.

The more I pray, the more I find to pray about. The greater the need to be in conversation with my King. It's a wonderful circle, pray. A blessed one. One I need more and more as the world turns and each moment passes.

I invite you to incorporate more into your day, and see what happens. How it changes you (and me) as we get ahold of God's heart, and allow Him to get ahold of ours.

Contrasts and Comparisons

I am amazed:

At the fervor people get into over a game. Football, Baseball, Basketball, Golf...really, it's a game. It should comprise fun, exercise, camaraderie, and a small amount of healthy competition. It's a GAME, folks.

At the lack of enthusiasm to get up in the morning to attend church. It nourishes the soul, lifts the heart, wakens the mind, and gets a proper perspective on ourselves and life - not to mention GOD. If we can scream and provide food for a game, why not provide our voices in worship and food for our soul?

My desire

It's a new year. No new resolutions - I don't do that stuff. I figure, if you're gonna make a promise to change, you shouldn't wait until New Year's. It's probably stuff you already should have been doing anyway. Not that I don't want to better myself. I do. It's just that I have discovered that I really can't change me. Only God can, and He does it in His own time. I love that. He can't be hurried, and He's never late. Not for one second, either way.

HE is on the throne. Yesterday, today, and forever. How comforting that thought is! I can't control a thing, and when I try I only mess it up anyway.

My part in all this is to be open and willing to be changed. Conformed, really. His goal remains the same: conform me into the image of Christ. Oh, some days there seems to be so much in me in need of conforming! sigh. Keeping my eyes on the prize: the upward call of Jesus in my life. That is what change is all about.