Don’t Be Backwards
I was reading an article this morning that my sister wrote, and it struck me that maybe I’m doing things wrong. Well, maybe not wrong but backwards. And if backwards, just how do I know that and what makes me an authority on the subject in the first place? I don’t know, but it just struck me that maybe I’m doing things backwards.
See, I get up in the morning usually to kiss dear husband good-bye as he leaves for work, get my morning vitamin cocktail, then sit on the big comfy couch or rocker…or even out on the stoop… to wake up a bit before I start the day. Only I sit there a bit too long sometimes and before I know it I’ve been there over an hour. I should have done my prayer time, had my breakfast, and got started writing at least, shouldn’t I?
Yet, every morning I wake up out of the middle of a dream for which I usually can’t remember what was going on in it, but nonetheless I wake up and there is a worship song playing in my head. Clearly, my mind, soul, whatever… my insides are singing praises to God! It’s usually at this time that I wonder where that came from (because of course you know that I’m not coherent enough to realize that I’m already giving God the first few moments of my day) and I trudge to the necessary room in hopes of waking up a bit more.
But my point is that for too long I think I’ve been doing things backwards. I never sit down at the computer and begin writing until after I THINK I’ve spent enough time with God, had my breakfast, done my “routine” or “ritual” tasks, and am satisfied that God is satisfied with me enough to allow me to write. HELLO! When did God tell me that I couldn’t write until I DID certain things? When did God actually lay the law down on me, period? Um… He never did. I did that to myself.
Yes, I want to serve God. Yes, I want to give Him my first of everything, including the first of my day. Silly me, I HAVE BEEN and didn’t realize it! Waking up singing praises to Him from deep within me IS giving Him my first waking moments. Always in my healed mind, because there’s room for Him in there now because all those dark shadowy critters are gone (we’ll talk about those another time). But the fact is…I AM giving my first and best to God every…single…day.
Here’s my theory; We have lived in a performance-based world so long that we have hung that tag on a mercy-filled, grace-filled, loving and forgiving God who requires only that we love and trust Him not that we perform to earn His love or forgiveness!
The truth is this: I don’t have to perform for God! I don’t have to perform for anybody! Regardless of whether I wake up with a praise song in my head or not, God loves me anyway. He has already forgiven me. He has already forgotten what I did wrong. He has already healed me. And this writing that I do? Yeah, God gave me that, too!
He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west… And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins. ~Psalm 103:12 & Hebrews 8:12 (NLT)
Don’t be backwards! It’s time to turn around and head in the direction God told you to go. You don’t have to follow a list, or routine. Just trust the One who gave you the Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. You’ll do just fine.
