Wait, Work, Watch

Yes, it has been a while again. Thankfully I have found that things are calming down. I am feeling better and with that energy return and balance I am becoming a crazed house cleaner and organizing everything I can get my hands on. It is about time. I'm completing projects that I have meant to do for months. So forgive me for being so slow to complete the list I promised. This one will be fun to write because I was reviewing my journal entries and the "What in the World is Going On" book that I read during my "isolation" time.  Great book, awesome points, and I SOOO appreciate a well written and well researched book. I love statistics and comparisons, so the book won me quickly with facts like the US is the #1 consumer of gas but #11 in oil reserves.  Ummmm....problem numero uno. That math doesn't work now does it?!

Read 2 Peter 1:5-8
Then 2 Peter 3:1-18
Woohoo!

There were all sorts of sobering facts through the What in the World book. The theme was one simply to keep "plugging along, faithfully fitting into the place where God put us as productive member of society."  Reading this book and Revelations continue to be very eye opening but not in a scary sense. From there I read in reverse back to 2 Corinthians  and was surprised at how many references verses made to persevere, be patient, continue doing good, the Lord is coming back. Yes He is! NO ONE knows when or where or how or dates or times. That has been made very clear. I now appreciate the theme more throughout the New Testament of the constant promises and hope we have.  It reminds me that the daily tasks are not tasks at all. They are opportunities we are given. It is so vital that we take these tasks seriously and not slop our way through them but let the Lord transform the ordinary into extraordinary.  Sometimes this requires, at times, patience to wait for God's timing, to just keep pressing into the task at hand as if working for the Lord and other times He lets of be a part of the "harvest". Times where goodness pours out. Whatever time you find yourself in....reflect on it. Be thankful for whatever stage of waiting, working, watching, or harvesting you are in. The Lord's timing is so perfect and worth waiting for.
What I know I did not read anywhere was to relax. Yes, find ways to decrease stress and not take things so seriously that you forget how to laugh and not internalize everything. Stay focused on what the Lord has told you to do and how He wants you to go about it. Honor Him. Glorify Him. Focus on Him. Do not become distracted. But do not worry. Do not make yourself sick trying to control things, make things happen, or stress think everything. (I can write it because He has to teach me how to avoid these!) Of course we can only do this with the Lord's help because we are human. We need His help to focus our mind on what He cares about. Keep focused on the things that really matter, to make sure we are staying on track for what He wants. What a filter! What a challenge! I'm glad that it is not up to me. There is great comfort knowing how incapable I am and how much I have to depend on HIM to offer my best. To keep going when I want to quit, then to realize that He didn't so I can't either. Jesus is a perfect Savior and lived among us. Understands our pressure, our tasks, our conflicts, our struggles, our lives, our work, our impatience yet HE was completely PERFECT. He lived a perfect life. One we can model our life after and continue to offer hope to a hurting world. If He hasn't come back, that's our task. To continue to live for Him, seek Him, and share Him. What a great task and that gives me great hope and great JOY during this Christmas season! He has come for us as a sweet baby to grow up in a lost world. To set the ultimate example for us. To show us what LOVE really is. God's precious, perfect, HOLY SON.