Clay in the Hands

Most days when I get to the office, I open my web browser and immediately click on a link to a free, online music service.  Throughout the day, the music stops and a little window pops up and asks me, “Are you still listening?”  I then have to click on the little window, and my music starts right back up.

This morning when that happened, it made me stop and think about my prayer life.  I have to admit that often times, maybe even most of the time, my prayer time is more of a drive-by shooting at God with all the things I need him to handle.  I do not sit and listen very often and when I do, it is not for long. 

I wonder if God ever looks at me with the same question, “Are you still listening?”  It is not an issue of God not answering or speaking to me – it is the fact that I am not paying attention.

Take the time today to share your concerns with God but then also give him time to answer – stay and listen.

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I don’t know about you but I tend to stay pretty busy.  I am not complaining.  In fact, sometimes I have to admit I thrive on the rush of “accomplishment.”  Someone on the outside could look at my calendar and see all the squares and be able to say, “if the objective is to fill all the boxes – you’re winning.”

Several years ago I read a book by Ruth Haley Barton titled, An Invitation to Solitude and Silence.  The book is a very good and insightful book but one of the things that has stuck with me to this day is an illustration she uses in that book.

That illustration actually sits on my desk still today – I’m looking at it as I write this post.  It is a baby food jar filled with water and about a 1/2″ of dirt.  The jar represents my life.  If I reach over, pick it up and give it a good shake, the dirt and debris swirl around in the water and the water gets so cloudy I can’t see through it.

But if I let the jar sit still long enough, the dirt settles and the water clears.

Our lives are like that.  When we stay busy, “stuff” is flying around inside us so fast we can’t focus on anything.  But when we sit still and just wait on God, he often blesses us with wonderful clarity.

So when I feel overwhelmed, I look at my little jar and remember, “Maybe I need to slow down, sit still and listen for God.”

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I had the privilege and honor to do a memorial service for very special person today.  Tom had been in our city and our church for over 50 years.  He was all but a living legend in our church – he even has an entrance named after him where he could always be found as a greeter every Sunday morning.

Through the course of putting the service together I heard lots of great stories about Tom.  One of the most meaningful stories had to do with his kids and showing animals for 4H and Ag.  Now if you are unfamiliar with this phenomena, parents purchase sheep, pigs, cows, goats, etc. and then their kids raise those animals and then take them to show.  There are judges who rate the animals on a variety of things.  Then when all is said and done, the animals are taken to auction and sold.

At the risk of letting the secret out as to how this process really works, the folks bid on those animals not so much because they want to pay a lot of money for the animals but rather they do it to support the kids they know and love.

The problem is that there are often those kids whose parents don’t participate or support their kids as much as some of the others.  Consequently, the folks doing the bidding don’t know those kids.  So when it comes to the bidding process, those “less popular” kids don’t get the bids that the others do.

Tom would get the bid sheet the night before the sale and go down the list, checking off those kids that he knew would not get many bidders.  He would then work behind the scenes to get folks together to “bid up” the price until it reached a respectable level and then he would buy them.

What an incredible example of Christ’s love – seeking to impact a life and not even get any credit for it.  That is what I want to be like when I grow up – serving others for the sake of following through with what God has called me to do, not to receive some kind of recognition.

Thanks Tom for reminding us what sacrificial love looks like.  We will miss you!

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I have been thinking a lot about God’s plan for me and our church lately.  The verse that has continued to come up in my mind as I think on what God is doing and wants to do is Esther 4:14.  The time was fast approaching when Esther would have to stand up and do what God needed her to do.  She was told, “who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this.”

I am continually humbled and confounded that the creator of the universe and all that is in it chose to use us, his followers, to carry out his plan of redemption.  Yet, I am excited that we were created for such a time as this.  This is our time!  God created us to make a difference in our world – to carry his love and his message of hope to those around us.

You were created for such a time as this.  There is no other time in the history of the world that you could have been more instrumental in God’s plan than today – NOW!

So what do we do about it?  

I would love to hear your thoughts!

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