Leftovers...

Leftover day...

Even reading those words probably caused some of you to shudder.

In our house, leftover day is lovingly known as "clean out the fridge day." We eat up all the leftover meals for lunch so I can restock our refrigerator that evening with wonderful foods from the grocery store.

But let's face it, leftovers never taste as good as they did the day you made them. Warming up the food can cause it to become dried out - less palatable, less pleasing.

Over my break from blogging, I realized that I was serving God the leftovers of my time.

Oh sure, I opened my Bible first thing in the morning as I enjoyed a cup of coffee...But sadly, I sometimes savored the flavor of the coffee more than the bread of life I was holding.

Even time at the beginning of the day can be leftovers.

God wants the first fruits of my time. The time of day is unimportant. He wants my heart and mind fully engaged to listen, to learn, to grow...

I don't want to serve my God leftovers!

It's about time...

Too many days of too much to do and too few hours in the day have left me both weary and defeated.

image by digitalart freedigitalphotos.net

I felt like I was doing nothing well, and I was frustrated at my inability...

I sat down at the keyboard many times over the past few days, and sat and watched the cursor blinking, the blank box for a blog post mocking me....

And I heard that little voice again:

you can't do this...

Only this time, it was not a lie.

This time, it was the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit calling me away.

The time for writing and posting would come...It was time to surrender, to listen, to learn...

It was time to bask in the presence of my Savior and spend time with him... Time to apply the life-giving words I've been reading - to let them fully soak into my heart and mind...

Time to rest...to reflect...to renew my vision for my calling as a wife, as a mother, as a teacher of my precious ones...

Time...

My time is all I have to offer those I love. Time to teach my children, to love my husband, to bear witness to the Lord's goodness...

When my time is His time first, the weariness fades, the defeat becomes victory, and the striving ceases.

My circumstances have not changed, just my focus.

My contentment and joy return, and so do the words...
The blinking cursor, no longer mocking, calls me deeper...