Where Has the Time Gone?

For some reason, lately I’ve really been thinking about where all of my life has gone and what I’ve chosen to do with my days. As I’m writing this today, I have been alive for 13,605 days, give or take a few. That thought makes my heart kind of sink. That’s a lot of days!! What have I done with those days? I believe that every day is a gift from God. I truly do. But I haven’t always appreciated that fact. I think back to my wild rebellious days and wish I could take them all back and do something worthwhile with that time. In a certain regard, I would not take back those days because they were a part of making me who I am today. However, it almost sickens me to think how much time I have wasted.

Now I’m married and have three beautiful daughters, and I think even more so now I realize how every day is a gift. I try to take time to stop what I’m doing and listen to them. To hug them extra long and take in the smell of their sweet skin and feel of their soft cheeks on mine, because I know that all too soon, they are going to be grown up and on their own. I want them to grow up feeling loved, safe and taken care of. I want to do fun things as a family and make memories that will last a lifetime. I don’t think every day has to be memorable. I know that’s not realistic. But I want them to have great memories of their childhood when they are my age.

So there is one thing that I have been feeling lately has robbed our family of these quality times. TECHNOLOGY. Xbox, tablet, phones, handheld video games, computers, TV. We are surrounded! We have had a really, really, really long winter. And in part because of this, I have let my kids (and husband) be on technology way more than they really should be. So now that it’s nice out, it’s become a really hard habit to break. It’s almost as if we have forgotten how to be a family. When the opportunity arises to be together and spend time together, it’s as if we don’t know how. It’s almost like a drug addict trying to get clean. The kids usually ask at least once “Can we play xbox? Can we play on the computer?” Sitting and reading a book, playing a game, writing a story, or doing a puzzle have become foreign to them. And, quite frankly, it’s all my fault. I have allowed them this access to technology, and they have been sucked in. 

So my plan for the summer is to break them of their addiction to technology. To reintroduce them to all of the fun things that childhood has to offer, before it’s too late. Before they have lived over 13,000 days and wonder where all of those days have gone. I want to teach them to be aware that every single day is a gift from God. And to teach them to live every day to the fullest. To spend time together, as a family, with their sisters, with their friends, with their family. To make memories, and to follow their dreams. Because I want more for them than being addicted to technology, and I think God does too!

Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days. That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

By Lisa Powell/@mamaof3gs

Prayer of Listening

Lord, sometimes You really want to tell me something don’t You? You gave me the same message loud and clear in two distinct places this week.

And what was that message? It was about being worried, hurried, maxed out, spread too thin, driven -- busy, busy, busy.

As I read the parable of the sower, I saw myself amid the thorns. I have heard Your message, and I have studied Your word. But, despite my good intentions, sometimes everything gets choked out by the cares and worries of my world. I run around town, racing from place to place, and crossing things off of my endless list. I stop only long enough to swallow a couple Motrin and a few Tums, and then jump back on the hamster wheel. The phone rings off the hook, I pencil in a handful of new commitments on an already saturated calendar, and then one of the kids calls to say he just threw up at school. Bruce is out of town. Before I know it, it’s way past my bedtime and I haven’t read my Bible or spent more than two minutes praying -- and that was at a red light. Where would I be if I wasn’t teaching Bible Study and didn’t feel like I had to do my reading, had to pray for my friends and their concerns? How many days would go by before I penciled You in on my calendar? What is wrong with my priorities, Lord?

And then I read the story of Mary and Martha. You might as well have been talking to me when you said, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.” That’s me all right. Worried and distracted by everything from cobwebs and cellulite to colleges and cancer. In that story, Mary chose the right thing, the only thing. She simplified her life that night by making a basic meal, and then she sat at Your feet and listened. She spent time with You.

Lord, help me to put my roots down in the rich soil of Your Word and Your grace, away from the thorns of my humanness. Help me to cast aside petty worries and worldly distractions. Instill in me a longing to sit at Your feet and listen.

In Your Name, I Pray, Amen 

by Sue Busler

"I'm Crippled, and I'm Hot!"

Attempting to check out the other day at a local drug store, I'll admit, I was holding up the line.  This was not my intention, but I did have the motherload of coupons thanks to contributions (please, too, feel free to donate to the cause) from my neighbor and momma-in-law.  
A middle-aged man was behind me in line holding one item.  Honestly, I would have allowed him to cut had my transaction not already begun.

Enter a grey-haired gentleman with a bath towel wrapped around his neck.  He found his way to the back of the line.  

The cashier, a Flo from Progressive Insurance sound-alike, called down a, "Hello!  How are you?" to the man in question.  
He replied assertively, "I'm crippled, and I'm hot!"  
The woman slowly turned back to the cash register with wide eyes and called back over her shoulder in a more timid tone, "I'm sorry to hear that."  
The bath-towel wrapped man grunted, "Well, you asked!" 

This scene unfolding in front of me gave me pause for thought.  I realized I'm always saying, "Hey!  How are you doing?" but am I always prepared for the response?  I have well-meaning intentions  when I say this common phrase and typically add a friendly squeeze (I'm a hugger!) for good measure, but when I come to think of the circumstances surrounding this utterance, it's usually in passing.  Next time these words cross my lips, I am going to make a conscious effort to extract an authentic answer like in the example above and truly listen.

James 1:19

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear. . .

Courtney Winkler