How do you make room for God on busy days? Wait? Isn't that every day?
Brother Lawrence, a monk on kitchen duty, talked to God while doing dishes. His was a holy kitchen, not because of incense or candles, but because of the posture of his heart—a heart so in love with God that He couldn't help but sing and pray in the midst of the mundane.
Have you read his classic: The Practice of the Presence of God? It's a little book with a big impact. I'm sure our favorite bookstore lady, Loretta Chalfant, recommended it to me my first year in college. We loved to go to the bookstore but not so much for books (we didn't have any money) but we loved talking to our own saint, Loretta.
I want to make my kitchen and laundry room a holy place to lift my heart to God. To see His face as I wait in line to check-out at the grocery store, to smile at the weary clerk, to slow down at the signal and let the next car go first. I don't think God is in a hurry because He already knows how it's all going to turn out.
As I make space for Him, I'll slow down and wait for all He's doing behind the scenes that I can't see yet.
Charles Swindoll said, "The trouble with life is that it's so daily." A mother of young children knows that truth in her bones. How do we make room for God in our busy dailies?
On my best days, God awakens me with my favorite morning prayer even before I throw off the covers. I found Psalm 143:8 when reading the King James Version so that's how I pray it. (Thankfully, He's familiar with all the versions.)
"Cause to me hear Thy loving kindness in the morning, for in Thee do I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto Thee" (Psalms 143:8 KJV).
Morning prayers get me started right. "Here I am again, Lord. Whatever You've got planned is fine by me."
Making room for God can mean a mind-shift. You may think that taking time with God is a "guilty-pleasure"—something you don't deserve and won't plan for until you've finished with all your responsibilities. Rest is one of God's best gifts—just ask my friend, Michele Morin—but I can leave it unopened, left on the front porch like an Amazon package, and think, I'll get to it as soon as I do one more thing…
I'm a just one more thing kind of person. It makes me late to most things.
I know I can fit one more thing in my schedule just like one more thing in my pantry, but when it comes time to find the turmeric (I know I have turmeric!) I can't find it for love or money or rice or beans.
I see a 45-minute space on the calendar, and put 2 hours-worth of work into that space, with no rest in sight. As soon as I do . . . are stumbling words when much later that night, I stumble into bed and wonder why things didn't turn out as I had planned and why am I so exhausted?
Here's why. I don't view rest like God does, nor value myself like God does.
BIRDWATCHING FOR THE WIN
I can look calm on the outside, but inside is a different story as I figure out how everyone will be safe, happy, and in God's will. What I really mean is, "How best to control this situation in the way I think it should turn out?" Making room for God means I let Him do His job and I do mine.
My friend slumped down in her chair, and sighed, "I can't take it anymore. My mom is driving me crazy." I murmured sympathetically, then asked, "So you feel it's your responsibility to change your mom? That's God's job. Your job is to love her. That's it." Overextending my reach of responsibility wears me out. Loving God and others—that's my responsibility. Taking on what isn't my job leads to stress and turmoil.
In Philippians 4:6, Paul wrote that we aren't to worry about anything. That seems a little too all-inclusive on my best days. Anything? Paul didn't have three daughters.
Jesus explains why we don't need to be anxious, daughters notwithstanding, and it starts with birds. "Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matthew 6:25, 26).
God loves me and my family even more than birds. Maybe worry is a matter of memory; when I slide back into anxious thoughts, I forget how much God loves me.
I need to list "birdwatching" in all of my planners. And, tell myself, Watch the birds. They follow the way God made them and they are provided for. You're made for rest as well as work. Follow that plan. God gave rest because He loves you.
My prayer mama, Mama Mabel wrote this to me:
FAITH IS……watching the little bird and realizing I really AM more important than that little bird…..And reminding myself that Jesus knows that little bird's name!….so since He already has my name written on His hand, I'm covered! (Isaiah 39:16a)…..and that doesn't mean I will understand how He "covers" me.
Birdwatching is on the agenda for my next mini-retreat, or maybe the next time I look out the window doing dishes in my holy and, sometimes, organized kitchen.
After a month of enjoying my new pantry, I see why my daughter left space on the shelves. Making room provides rest. Rest for the eyes, ease in finding things, clarity of needs.
When I surrender all I am to God, seek Him first, and praise Him in the dailies, my shelves are less-cluttered. I find what I'm looking for and all that I need. I'm making room for God which puts my soul at rest.
Don't you love it that God knows all the versions? Of you and of Scripture? Here's my favorite morning verse in the NIV. Also great.
The point isn't the version. The point is that I ask God to fill my day and mind with himself.
Do you have a "morning verse" that helps you make room for Jesus? I'd love to hear it. Put in comments below or jot me an email.
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