"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." (Matthew 6:34 MSG)
My mind actively stays in overdrive. I'm always thinking ahead of the moment. Planning for the future without taking time to acknowledge my present. Skimming over an email. Preparing a response before even receiving a reply. Checking my phone every 2 minutes. And don't even get me started on my mastery of multi tasking! I know I'm not the only one who can watch TV, check Facebook and Twitter simultaneously, eat dinner and talk on the phone ALL at the same time!
(Get a visual: This is my life) Then I wonder why I can't remember anything. Yikes!
I was recently reading a devotional I receive daily in my inbox. A couple sentences in I could see this was a "word" I needed to hear, so as I often do I started reading fast and found myself jumping ahead searching for the good parts and takeaways. I mean after all, who really has TIME to read an email in its entirety?? (wink) As my eyes started to skip down a few paragraphs I felt in my spirit God saying: "Slow down! I need you to get this!"
So, I slowed down.
I needed to read that devotion line by line, word for word and meditate on it so it could sink deep within my heart and soul. If not I'd forget what I read no more than 5 minutes later and a week from now still wonder why I'm struggling in that area.
As I finished reading and tried to sleep, I pondered on Gods words. I knew God wasn't just asking me to slow down reading an email, he was asking me to slow down my life, more importantly to be settled in my heart and spirit.
I was immediately lead to Matthew 6:34, in the message translation the first few lines are impactful:
"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now..."
God longs for us to stay in the moment! Not to think about what is ahead but to focus on the now. As one of my friends always says, God often tells her to "Get somewhere and sit down!” So true.
We miss out on so much joy worried about the drama tomorrow may bring.
We miss opportunities to cultivate new relationships because of the fear people may hurt us.
We fail to make lasting memories with our loved ones because we busy ourselves with work and social activities.
We miss hearing the voice of God because we drown him out with music, TV and gossip.
As the rest of Matthew 6:34 reads "..and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes"
God doesn't want us worrying about our future, rushing through our seasons in life or consumed with anxious thoughts. Let’s all be challenged to slow down, be patient and be present in life.
Blessings!
Do you ever feel like your rushing through life? I do.
My mind actively stays in overdrive. I'm always thinking ahead of the moment. Planning for the future without taking time to acknowledge my present. Skimming over an email. Preparing a response before even receiving a reply. Checking my phone every 2 minutes. And don't even get me started on my mastery of multi tasking! I know I'm not the only one who can watch TV, check Facebook and Twitter simultaneously, eat dinner and talk on the phone ALL at the same time!
(Get a visual: This is my life) Then I wonder why I can't remember anything. Yikes!
I was recently reading a devotional I receive daily in my inbox. A couple sentences in I could see this was a "word" I needed to hear, so as I often do I started reading fast and found myself jumping ahead searching for the good parts and takeaways. I mean after all, who really has TIME to read an email in its entirety?? (wink) As my eyes started to skip down a few paragraphs I felt in my spirit God saying: "Slow down! I need you to get this!"
So, I slowed down.
I needed to read that devotion line by line, word for word and meditate on it so it could sink deep within my heart and soul. If not I'd forget what I read no more than 5 minutes later and a week from now still wonder why I'm struggling in that area.
As I finished reading and tried to sleep, I pondered on Gods words. I knew God wasn't just asking me to slow down reading an email, he was asking me to slow down my life, more importantly to be settled in my heart and spirit.
I was immediately lead to Matthew 6:34, in the message translation the first few lines are impactful:
"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now..."
God longs for us to stay in the moment! Not to think about what is ahead but to focus on the now. As one of my friends always says, God often tells her to "Get somewhere and sit down!” So true.
We miss out on so much joy worried about the drama tomorrow may bring.
We miss opportunities to cultivate new relationships because of the fear people may hurt us.
We fail to make lasting memories with our loved ones because we busy ourselves with work and social activities.
We miss hearing the voice of God because we drown him out with music, TV and gossip.
As the rest of Matthew 6:34 reads "..and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes"
God doesn't want us worrying about our future, rushing through our seasons in life or consumed with anxious thoughts. Let’s all be challenged to slow down, be patient and be present in life.
Blessings!
