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Growing Up

             And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ (Philippians 1:9-10)

 

            I finished reading Hearing God, yesterday, and I recommend it to you. The last chapter was a tough one, however, because what he points out is that it is not God’s will to take care of things while we suck our thumbs. Much too much of my conversation with God is “Please guide me. I’ll screw it up if You don’t. I’m such a weakling and coward. I failed again. Do it for me, Father, because I’m helpless, stupid, weak, foolish, arrogant, stubborn, and petty.” If I actually had to say the words, they wouldn’t come out right. While Peter opened his mouth to change feet, I open mine to change thumbs.

            You’ll probably say I can’t possibly be that bad, but you don’t listen to me as much as I do. So, this is one of my challenges this winter. To learn to listen to God when He speaks, to love Him more and better than I do today, and to grow up a little.

            One of the pieces of this will involve learning to deal differently with hurry up! Not yet! It will require living closer to when and where I am instead of trying to rush ahead and make sure that things about which I can do nothing yet are under control. A couple questions come to mind.

            Is there something concrete I can do about X now that I won’t have to redo later? Put it on the To Do list for when something can be done.

            Have I finished doing everything that actually needs to be done today – including spending time in prayer and meditation? If not, don’t do those things. If so, do something you enjoy. Give yourself a gift of rest and blessing.

            Am I chewing on my tongue, sucking my thumb, or whining? If so, put on worship music, read a psalm, and/or figure out what it is that has me doing so and solve that problem. Chances are, it will be ten seconds or more of inaction.

            Has God revealed an issue that I need to resolve, or am I being a spiritual hypochondriac?

            What is the best thing that can happen? (Instead of "What is the worst?)

            Have I thanked God for the situation yet?  Have I appropriated what I actually need in the situation? Courage? Truth? Hope? Strength?

            What can I do to help someone else?

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