While trying to live a more overall disciplined lifestyle, I have found that it’s more difficult than I thought because I won’t be still. I mean this in the physical and mental sense. I can recall the quote about the rocking chair constantly moving back and forward, but never going any where.
I want to keep this post short and simple, while allowing myself the opportunity to share with you some of my personal struggles.
When you think about stillness, being still physically is probably the most common thought that comes to mind. Sometimes at the end of the day, I find that I have been running all across town, back and forth, and yet I can’t really say that I’ve had a productive day.
However, yesterday was a extremely productive day. Mostly because Taylor took a four hour nap. Yet, in about a span of six hours or so I was able to work on a few client projects, workout, shower, wash my hair and have time for personal devotion.
And, at the close of the day, I felt satisfied that I had a productive day.
In the spiritual and mental sense, in my mind, I find it very difficult to drown out the thoughts and musing of everyday. I know that ripping and running all the time, physically and mentally, can have a negative effect on me overall. So, I’m trying to practice stillness and quietness.
I’ve even studied a few yoga poses! I don’t know any mantras or anything (for you yoga people)! But, I try to sit and concentrate on a scripture or characteristic of God. So, I sit and sit and sit. And, try to focus. I respect that this is something that must be practiced.
Even in my prayer time, if I’m not praying out loud, I very well may stray off and think about something I was doing earlier in the day. No joke, this week in Bible Study, the minister was praying as I stood there, my mind wandered off and I imagined what would happen if a rat was in the sanctuary and crawled up my pant leg! I know, it’s pretty horrible….
Though I find it very difficult, I’m up for the challenge to live a more overall disciplined lifestyle. I understand that private worship, meditation and stillness brings about balance and allows me to be spiritually fit.
In conclusion is an excerpt from my daily devotion. It can be found at http://www.utmost.org
“We presume that we would be ready for battle if confronted with a great crisis, but it is not the crisis that builds something within us— it simply reveals what we are made of already. Do you find yourself saying, “If God calls me to battle, of course I will rise to the occasion”? Yet you won’t rise to the occasion unless you have done so on God’s training ground. If your worship is right in your private relationship with God, then when He sets you free, you will be ready. It is in the unseen life, which only God saw, that you have become perfectly fit. And when the strain of the crisis comes, you can be relied upon by God.”
Can God rely on you?
