I think part of my problem that I’ve been exploring in some recent blogs is that every modern person and I live in a twenty-four hour a day seven days a week world. 24/7 is good for a pancake house, but not so good for a person.
We are ignoring the biblical concept of the Sabbath when we do not stop and take time to rest and restore ourselves. We think that the Sabbath is for God, but the worship of God is not the only purpose. The need for restoration is a fundamental part of our nature. We have to realize and accept this about ourselves.
It seems counterintuitive but I believe if we break one day a week we can do eight days of work in the six we have. The same goes for the day. Work nine hours with a one hour break and most likely you will do what you could in 10 hours straight.
This is not something I’ve proven experientially so I’ve been testing the concept out lately to limited success. Not limited in its results so much as limited in my success at implementing a Sabbath. The results are always very good when I can actually implement it. So I will keep trying to stop my mad mad life and rest (in the Lord).
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Answered Prayer Doesn’t Always Look Like What You Expected
Since becoming a Christian I have always heard that God often answers prayer in a way that is entirely different than you expected. I have never had any experience with this up until last week. Actually I can’t say that God ever answered one of my prayers in a way that I recognized. Mind you it’s not surprising given my hap hazard prayer life.
The last few weeks have been different. I can’t say that my actual voiced prayers were any better [I suppose that doesn’t matter though. It’s not like prayer is some kind of magic system to get what you want], but my heart was really in it. My primary client Motel 6 has been starting to come back to life after a summer of no work, and I really did not want to do it again. I’ve spent the summer working on “real” projects and I’ve come to realize I really like Architecture. I love building sections and details in particular, but plans and elevations are good too.
I was very upset about Motel 6 and I was praying to God for deliverance. As I said not very focused prayer, but my heart was aching for this. In my mind [hope my partners don’t read this one] the only deliverance was finding a new job. A daunting task in this economy, but I thought with God’s help anything is possible. Then last Monday God delivered me without having to change jobs. The vice president in charge of our projects at Motel 6 decided that he wanted the woman that does the permitting for us to be the primary contact with Motel 6. So while I will still be working on Motel 6 it won’t be nearly as consuming as it has been. Thanks be to God!
The last few weeks have been different. I can’t say that my actual voiced prayers were any better [I suppose that doesn’t matter though. It’s not like prayer is some kind of magic system to get what you want], but my heart was really in it. My primary client Motel 6 has been starting to come back to life after a summer of no work, and I really did not want to do it again. I’ve spent the summer working on “real” projects and I’ve come to realize I really like Architecture. I love building sections and details in particular, but plans and elevations are good too.
I was very upset about Motel 6 and I was praying to God for deliverance. As I said not very focused prayer, but my heart was aching for this. In my mind [hope my partners don’t read this one] the only deliverance was finding a new job. A daunting task in this economy, but I thought with God’s help anything is possible. Then last Monday God delivered me without having to change jobs. The vice president in charge of our projects at Motel 6 decided that he wanted the woman that does the permitting for us to be the primary contact with Motel 6. So while I will still be working on Motel 6 it won’t be nearly as consuming as it has been. Thanks be to God!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Permanent Vacation…
is one of my favorite Aerosmith songs, but I know my vacation from myself will not be permanent. I can already feel it coming to an end. However, I haven’t really dealt with the issues that caused me to want to break from my normal mode of thought. How long can you fight your inherent nature?
I believe people can change. I know I can. It takes clear vision intention and means (hat tip Dallas Willard). Sometimes it takes God intervening. It can be done though.
What is it exactly that needs to change? Is the problem that I don’t accomplish enough? That seems a fairly shallow problem. Is the problem my house, garage, office and car are all messy? In the grand scheme of things is this really a problem? Is the problem I don’t go where I want to go and I’m living a reactionary instead of intentional life? Now that sounds like we’re getting somewhere.
I believe people can change. I know I can. It takes clear vision intention and means (hat tip Dallas Willard). Sometimes it takes God intervening. It can be done though.
What is it exactly that needs to change? Is the problem that I don’t accomplish enough? That seems a fairly shallow problem. Is the problem my house, garage, office and car are all messy? In the grand scheme of things is this really a problem? Is the problem I don’t go where I want to go and I’m living a reactionary instead of intentional life? Now that sounds like we’re getting somewhere.
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