Last week was one of those whirlwind weeks of actvity. They are both exciting and stressful. At such times, my capacity for dealing with stress feels small. As long as they come one at a time, allowing me to re-charge before the next, I’m fine. But when they come in multiples of 3…well, you get the picture.
We need to be very careful about ‘over-spending’ [pun intended] this time of year. Too much stress leads to fatigue, irritability, sleeplessness, anxiety and depression. It is dangerous if we don’t take time to re-charge. Rick Warren recently wrote in his daily blog "Without margin in your life, you'll think, Oh no! Another thing to do! Sorry, God, I'd like to do that, but I'm just too busy.”
One of the worst things we can do is squeeze out our daily quiet time with God. It is the margin at the top and bottom of every page—the beginning and end of each day. Our quiet time shuts us in with God—where we get re-charged by the Word, the Spirit, and prayer. There we find an infinite supply of life and energy. As we “set our minds and affections on things above”(Colossians 3:2) we find the margins of our life—and we are refreshed and recharged.
Showing posts with label margins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label margins. Show all posts
Monday, December 20, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
God Knows Your Name
Here’s an astonishing fact for a mundane Monday morning: a new study by scientists suggests that instead of 10 trillion stars in the universe (as formerly calculated), there are more than 300 sextillion stars—a ‘3’ followed by ‘23’ zeroes. And here’s an amazing thought: God knows the number of stars and calls them all by name (Ps. 147:4). Daunting, isn’t it!
Now let’s bring this down to earth and make it more personal. Jesus says our Heavenly Father knows how many hairs are on your head (Luke 12:7). How personal is that! But of course what Jesus is really telling us is that God knows us—intimately. Moreover, He thinks about us. The Psalmist says: “Many, O Lord my God, are…Your thoughts toward us… If I would declare and speak of them, they would be too numerous to count” (40:5) (Probably more than 300 sextillion?)
On a cold, rainy, dreary Monday morning like this one, the humdrum of life on earth threatens to move God to the margins of our minds. So think about this: the God who knows the numbers and names of the stars, knows you, and certainly knows your name. And is thinking about you right now. (1 Chron. 28:9)
Now let’s bring this down to earth and make it more personal. Jesus says our Heavenly Father knows how many hairs are on your head (Luke 12:7). How personal is that! But of course what Jesus is really telling us is that God knows us—intimately. Moreover, He thinks about us. The Psalmist says: “Many, O Lord my God, are…Your thoughts toward us… If I would declare and speak of them, they would be too numerous to count” (40:5) (Probably more than 300 sextillion?)
On a cold, rainy, dreary Monday morning like this one, the humdrum of life on earth threatens to move God to the margins of our minds. So think about this: the God who knows the numbers and names of the stars, knows you, and certainly knows your name. And is thinking about you right now. (1 Chron. 28:9)
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