time, day 7

Come to Stillness:
Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
Lord,

      Help me walk slowly and deeply with you through the hours and minutes of this day—that I might find all of you that is to be found within it. Allow me not to miss you because of hurry or busyness, but let me sense the fullness of your presence in each moment. Slow down both my feet and my heart that I might be more present to you as I go about my normal activities. In the Name of Jesus I pray. Amen. (JLB)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 90

Scripture for the Day: Hebrews 3:7-19

Reading for Reflection:

When I imagine my own life simple and uncomplicated, I picture my room and desk tidy, everything in its place.  I myself am moving gracefully and graciously from one task to the next with precision, on schedule but with no strain or pressure.  The schedule and the tasks are perfectly synchronized.  It could all be so simple, I say to myself, if everything were only in its place.

     But it isn’t.  It’s complicated.  It’s complicated because people don’t stay in place.  They aren’t predictable, they foul up my schedule, they interfere with my agenda, they make demands I hadn’t programmed.  It’s complicated because there is too much to do, too many tasks, too many needs, too much going on.  I can’t keep up with it all; I’m always at least a step or two behind.  I can’t do everything that needs to be done; I feel burdened, sometimes even guilty, for being so limited.  And I think maybe I’m doing it wrong, and if I could just figure out how to do it right I’d be able to meet everyone’s needs.  It’s complicated because there’s never enough time.  In my anxiety to conquer time by controlling its dispensation, I feel myself victimized by it.  I am unable to find time, take time, get time: all control words.

     Mostly what I find is frustration.  My life is out of control.  I feel a need to be in control of my life and all the factors, situations, and people that complicate it.  I set myself over-against them and need to dominate them, to subject them to my agenda, fit them into my program.  I do have an agenda, and I don’t want it interrupted.  I set up my day and I offer it to God.

     But there’s something wrong in the picture.  When I imagine—or when I experience—the simple way, everything moves in a rhythm.  There is an Agenda, and I’m in tune with it, but it’s not my creation.  I don’t need to worry about controlling; I don’t need to be anxious that it won’t all work out.  I’m not in command and don’t need to be….  The interruptions are as integral to the scene as anything I had planned.  I only receive the day and the program that comes to me during the day from God.  And that’s what makes the difference. (Reflections on Simplicity by Elaine M. Prevallet)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Come, Now is the Time to Worship

Come, now is the time to worship

Come, now is the time to give your heart

Come, just as you are to worship

Come, just as you are before your God

Come

One day every tongue will confess you are God

One day every knee will bow

Still the greatest treasure remains for those

Who gladly choose you now

Closing Prayer:

O Christ, when I look at you I see that you were never in a hurry, never ran, but always had time for the pressing necessities of the day. Give me that disciplined, poised life with time always for the thing that matters. For then I would be a disciplined person. Amen. (The Way by E. Stanley Jones)