Monday, November 7, 2011

Consider the Ant and Finding My Sabbath

I'm constantly reminding myself, and in teaching our children....it is the 'steady plodding' that gets us to our end result. You know...the whole 'short term goals get us to our long term goals'. The small things we do today, open up the larger things God has for us to do. I need this reminder even more so as I remind our children.

Today I've been thinking about the little things I do, that sometimes think to be insignificant. Yet, if I look at the long term result.......there is something being produced in all of these 'little things' we think are not so important.

The verse comes to me about doing EVERYTHING as unto the Lord...and that means "EVERY" thing! Why is this so difficult?

Every day we are sowing into something or someone. Every little thing holds value (even laundry).....a kind word, a smile, an encouraging word, a word of correction in love....can mean life or death for a person's spirit, or their life course. Wow, that is a LOT to consider!

So today I'm considering the ant.......the ways of the ant. For me....working, building toward the kingdom of God. My life, my husband's life, the two little lives that God has entrusted me with, every person God places in my path....moments or interruptions that could be irritating. God may have something quite profound in those moments, even the irritating ones. It could be a 'divine appointment'.

Then balancing and keeping in mind healthy boundaries, and remember to take time for my personal Sabbath/REST with God each week. There is such a fine line with keeping balance. Only the guiding of the Holy Spirit can keep that all in order. The weekly Sabbath is so important...a FULL DAY. If it was good enough for God to do, it is good for we His children too. Even good things done when it should be a day of rest, can take away the healing and filling up of God that a true Sabbath can bring to us. We need to be filled up with the Lord AND rest in Him, so we have something to give back out again. Or...we may burn out.

Proverbs 6:6-8
Go to the ant, O sluggard;
consider her ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief,
officer, or ruler,
she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food in harvest.

Proverbs 30:24-28
Four things on earth are small,
but they are exceedingly wise:
the ants are a people not strong,
yet they provide their food in the summer;
the rock badgers are a people not mighty,
yet they make their homes in the cliffs;
the locusts have no king,
yet all of them march in rank;
the lizard you can take in your hands,
yet it is in kings’ palaces.

Colossians 3:12-17
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Hebrews 4:9-13
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

God I need you in every moment of the day. To keep my path straight and steady, for what You want me to do...moment by moment. Some things can wait, if you have something special in mind. As long as I am moving with You. Lord, help me find my personal sabbath each week...a full day to rest and reflect in YOU! To Be Still, and KNOW that you are God...to Be Still, and allow my mind to stop spinning with 'busy-ness', so I can truly think on You and honestly work through my thoughts with YOU. Also, to hear You speak in the quiet of the day.

Here is a beautiful photo from my walk........



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