Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
Ok. So today is December 15.
That's ten days 'til Christmas.
It was the Christmas program at the satellite campus where The Actor is currently serving as part of his ministry internship.
It's also the date of a high school beau's birthday, but I'm not going there.
It wasn't until I sat down and glanced at the feed burner and saw today's LPM post that I realized what else today is.
It is the due date for the LAST SSMT memory verse of 2013.
Oh, I knew it was coming and had been mulling over what verse I would like to choose for the final verse.
But I was doing it with a 'oh, I've got another week or so' attitude. I just was NOT paying attention to the calendar.
I was sort of leaning towards an Advent verse...something worth committing to memory that has to do with preparing the way, or expecting the coming Messiah, or some such thing.
But Pastor's sermon today knocked something a little loose...took the shade off of the lamp, so to speak, and I have been pondering one little, teeny, heard-it-a-thousand-times-and-know-it-but-didn't-really-know-it truth all day...so my verse, which is another one of the 'familiar but never really memorized' varieties again, is actually connected to that epiphany.
I probably won't even begin to do it justice, but, well, I'll give it a shot.
He was talking about distractions, things that can render us deaf to God's voice and God's plan. Number one on the list was 'Busyness'.
Yeah. Can I just say that anytime I hear a message on the distraction of Busyness, it hits home?
Anyway, as I pondered what he was saying, I suddenly found myself having a little mental conversation with Jesus that went something like this:
Lord, what do I need to do? Really?
Spend time with me.
Yeah, I know I need to spend time with You. But what is the most important thing for me to DO?
Spend time with me.
The second time, I got it. I mean, the lightbulb went ON.
And I wrote down " The number one priority in my life is to spend time with Jesus".
And, yeah, I know, that's a 'D'uh!'
But suddenly my concept of what it meant to 'spend time with Jesus' shifted.
It went from 'Make sure I sit down and read my Bible and pray' to 'He is the number one relationship in my life and I can't do anything unless I'm talking to him and listening to him and hearing his heart and sharing mine and...'
You know. Like we were married...or best friends... close and intimate.
That's a tough paradigm to live by. But I got a glimpse of what it would be like to really make my relationship with Him a priority. To feel about spending time with him the same way I feel about spending time with the people I love and cherish the most.
And I suddenly realized that, if I did that, all the 'doing' stuff would somehow fall into place. Doing stuff for Him will never equal just being with Him.
It was a lightbulb moment. And I don't know how well I can squelch the tyranny of the urgent to spend time with him...my track record on that isn't good on any level...but, wow, my whole life will be different.
My lover spoke and said to me, "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me." - Song of Songs 2:10 NIV 84
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