This past week I woke up right away thinking about all the things I needed to do. I felt so overwhelmed that I was becoming unmotivated. Yet I was also feeling the urgency to get it all done and a wave of motivation hit again. Moments after, I was feeling the anxiety again because I was remembering I should do that thing I forgot to do yesterday. It’d been 3 minutes since I’d been awake and I was already exhausted. Unfortunately, this didn’t only happen just last week; this is what I experience more often than I’d like to admit.

When it comes to our walk with God, I like to think of us as cars. I wish we were like the smart self-driving cars, but that’s just giving us a little too much credit. No, we are more like the cars that are just a little out of alignment (and sometimes really out of alignment). We fix our eyes on Jesus and are on track chasing after him, but then slowly our hearts veer off and the next thing we know we’re driving over those annoyingly loud bumps on the side of the road. We focus back on Jesus, but slowly we find ourselves veering off to the bumps again, maybe this time just a little further, and the next thing we know we’re in a ditch. We are prone to distraction. Our eyes get focused on lesser (though often still good) things, and our hearts start chasing idols. […]

“Nothing is sacred.”  It’s a phrase often used to convey horror at the lack of respect bestowed upon a subject that had previously been designated off limits.  These things range from religious symbols and objects of moral value (think, sanctity of human life) to even the more general things that, if violated, would cause a great amount of discomfort (“Boss cancelled Taco Tuesdays…is nothing sacred anymore?”).

I like to talk.  If you’ve ever met me in person, you’re probably thinking, “Wow, Kathryn.  Shocker.” I know. Hear me out. It’s not that I don’t like silence or being quiet.  I’m actually very comfortable in it. It’s that when I’m with other people, I want to communicate.  I want to share stories and ideas and information. Silence feels like lost opportunity!

When I think of the phrase “whatever you do”, it usually follows with a warning. “Whatever you do, don’t do _this_.” But the Apostle Paul phrased it in a positive way:

In 2011, I became a Christian. One of the first things I was encouraged to do was spend “quiet time” with God every morning. The reasons for quiet time included: to know God, know His word, practice prayer and studying the Bible, journal and process, renew my mind, mature in the faith, confess and repent, fellowship with Holy Spirit. Doing these things would help me be so filled with God I’d overflow with His love towards others. Like I said, all good reasons!