Life is full of them...everyday little ones, seemingly insignificant ones, the ones we never see or never think about are happening... like the shedding of our hair or dead skin cells, a flower fading, the morning dew evaporating, leaves falling. I mean do we ever think about those little changes? I know I rarely do.
How much do I take the Love of my Father God for granted...in the midst of the everyday?
How much do I take the Forgiveness of my Father God for granted...in the midst of the everyday?
How much do I take the precious gift of Jesus Christ for granted...in the midst of the everyday?
Has my faith become mundane? A daily ritual, a going through the motions, a doing what is right just for the sake of doing it.... OR is my faith ALIVE, growing, breathing, changing... Like the big changes we see & notice in the world around us, the ones that are hard to miss... the sunrise or sunset, the stages of the moon from new to full, the first blooms of spring, a blanket of fresh white snow in the morning, a thunderstorm, rain after it has been so dry...
My personal life has been full of changes recently, my son & his classmates (21 in all) have graduated after spending nearly 12 or 13 years together (for most of them). They became a family & are "my kids". This change was hard, it was one I saw coming for a long time & anticipated, yet feared too. In 37 days, we will take him 8 hours from home into a whole new world called college. Our home will be empty...a change that is definitely hard to miss! So what will I do in the midst of this change? (and all the other hard things that are going on right now...ya know that feeling you get when the waves just keep coming-that's kind of where I am! Enough on that though, you get the picture and we all have them... so insert your hard thing here)
Will I hide or will I thrive?
As I walk through these personal life changes, God has been drawing me back to His music! If you look at my facebook page, you will notice that His music is all over my wall right now! There is such a reason for that, and while I don't get the whole of His reasons right now, I do get this...I am wired to worship... what will I worship? I am doing my best to choose God...
Here is where I landed the other day,
God, I trust You... because You promise a hope that doesn't ever end...when everything seems to appear to be falling apart around us or the oceans seem to be rising or a tragedy finds us....YOU gives us the strength to
rise...to find a new beginning...YOU ARE the ONLY HOPE for this heart!
So back to these "changes", did you know that the little changes can make the biggest difference. If we can take notice of the small things in our lives & begin to make changes there (or not), we begin to effect those around us. For example, take the Israelites...They were a nation, held captive in Egypt... a rather large nation that had become slaves... How in the world did this happen?
Traced back you can see it began with Joseph & his brothers/ They had felt angry one day, probably many days toward their little brother Joseph. Instead of dealing with this anger, they allowed it to take root-and finally one day, that anger had built to such a level that they actually contemplated ridding themselves of Joseph FOR GOOD...like permanently gone from the face of this earth... WHOA!!!! Stop right there...how in the world could these guys raised in a "good home" seriously consider murdering their little brother? It all started with the little seed of anger that was allowed to grow. Fortunately for Joseph, one of his brother's had enough sense to realize that they really did NOT want Joseph's blood on their hands...so, let's just "make this problem go away" and sell him! YUP, that will fix it all...we will sell him and then whatever happens AT LEAST we know we didn't kill him! So we aren't THAT bad right? (how do I justify my choices in my life?)
Years pass, confusing, sad, heartbreaking years...and eventually Joseph rises to power-for it was seen that he was a good man, an honorable man...though I'm pretty sure when he sat in that prison he wasn't having the best of thought toward his brothers...I'm sure he had to "work through" some things! Anyway, he is in power and who happens to appear before him...needing HIS help...those same stinking brothers who threw him in a pit, sold him as a slave and never really told him why...REVENGE???? Perhaps...he spoke harshly to them when he first saw them, made untrue accusations at them, bribes them with their freedom,... all in just one visit...well, they came back...and eventually we see that Joseph forgives his brothers & has ALL 11 of them & their families come join them in Egypt to SAVE them from the famine... Joseph chose forgiveness over anger. I mean he had EVERY RIGHT to be angry didn't he?
You see God worked what Joseph's brothers intended for evil into good-saving the entire nation of Israel from famine-Joseph saw that "little thing" and allowed it to be changed!
However,fast forward a number of years and there was a lasting consequence that came from that "little bit of anger" left unchecked by his brothers...Exodus 1:8-11, tells us that sometime after Joseph died a new ruler came into power who knew nothing of Joseph. He decided the nation of Israel was TOO BIG and so he enslaved them! How did this happen?
It was a "slow fade"...a little jealousy, a little anger and a little envy left unchecked. And the course of a nation was changed...
So I ask you this, what "little thing" might God be showing you and asking you to change? While it may not change the course of a nation...it WILL change the course of your life given the chance. For me...it was time I turned back to His music to fill me!
Check out these links,to read or listen to some of the things that spurred these thoughts today:
http://devotions.proverbs31.org/2011/07/just-a-little-sin.html
http://youtu.be/QASREBVDsLk
