“In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.” –psalm 5

“Why do we not pray?” the preacher asked.

It took me until the second week of hearing that rhetorical question, but as he read on, the truth of my own answer finally surfaced.

I fail to pray because my life (in my perspective) doesn’t seem to need supernatural intervention. I wake up, I make the bed, I check off a list of house chores, maybe run some errands, and hopefully prepare a decent dinner. Nothing too difficult in that, is there? No, not really. I just do my thing.

How smitten I was when that revelation came. For one who is so eager to live and preach, “Redeem the time!”, I certainly have squandered plenty of days.

Oh, Lord, forgive.

I sat up straighter in my chair and drank in the rest of the sermon, my parched soul suddenly realizing its desperate need for water. And what I heard was hope and glory. I heard that the answer to my spiritual malaise was not to throw off the hum-drum of routine and find a way to be more radical, but rather, to spend time with the Lord and let Him frame the purpose of each day. Amazing, but true: In the Lord, there is the ability to be content in the most humble of seasons, and walk with a Kingdom perspective that causes you to live a dynamic life.

The Lord is not found on the other side of the fence, where the grass, I swear, is emerald. He is here, in a day of cleaning and sorting, organizing and cooking. He is ready to redeem the little moments of my life, if I would but offer a few to Him in prayer, and let His answer open my eyes to what He is doing all around me.

Adoring the Lord…
…because His wisdom is pure and His ways true.
…for His faithfulness.
…because He is always God Almighty.

Confessing…
…the weakness of my heart in yielding to His work in me.
…my lack of faith for my own giants.
…my apathy in spite of my great need.

Thanking the Father for…
…His lovingkindness towards us — and especially me!
…His intimate knowledge of me and His readiness to bear my burdens.
…the confidence of His coming glory and Kingdom.

Supplicating the Holy Spirit…
…to keep my heart soft.
…to make me an effective member of an effective Body.
…to show His glory through me today.

And hearing Him say…
…”Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.” ~Jude 24,25

(thanks, bri.)

Rain.

The 10-day forecast, with its gray clouds and highs of 58 degrees, definitely put a damper on my mood.

But then I heard how badly the golf course needed ten days of rain, and my perspective changed a little. Now, as the rain drops spatter on the window that is only letting in grayness, I think of those thirsty greens, greedily drinking up every drop, letting the wetness seep deep into their roots.

Perspective: there is a reason for the rain.

I hear You, Lord, speaking to my heart. I don’t like the rainy days, but I need it, too, as badly as those greens. It feels like a flood, like torrents pounding and drowning. But it’s seeping in, deep into my roots. The dusty soil of my heart is settling, turning the rich brown hue of fertile ground. You’ve come like the rain, answering my prayer of Psalm 1 — that I might be fruitful in my season.

So let the rain come, and help me to hold on — to be watered and not washed away. One of these days, the forecast will be golden sun, and I will find that the rain did not kill me, but rather, brought life.

There is a reason for the rain.

We left last night at a rather odd time–1:00 a.m. It wasn’t a planned outing, per se, and was consequently done in a bit of haste.

[I’m on “kid duty” for my sister, who is due to deliver her 3rd at any moment. What a privilege–to bring the older two to the hospital to meet the new important person and impacting force in their lives! Their little minds cannot even begin to understand how deeply the coming of this new infant will effect them forever. Family is the coolest idea! But this post isn’t really about any of this. And, by the way, there is still no baby. It’s the old stop-and-start routine that my poor sister experienced with #1. Pray for her!]

Anyway, a late phone call, a flurry of excitement, a few quickly packed bags, and we were out of here. I then spent all of today with two of the cutest little guys I could ever hope to know, and after dinner, games, and clean-up, finally came back home.

Home sweet home, just the way I left it.

It looked like I’d suddenly gotten a phone call and high-tailed it out to the car. In my dream world, even in the most surprising of emergencies, my home would be left in a better state of order.

I’d like “just the way I left it” to improve a bit.

And that, my friends, is the topic of this post.

As I prepared for bed and put a few things back that had been left rather randomly out of place, I suddenly felt challenged: Jesus is going to show up at some point. Just appear. Just, ta-da, arrive, and that’s it. We’ll high-tail it on outta here, in whatever state He happens to find us. Am I ready? Do I live if a life that’s ready?

I pondered that for a moment and realized it would probably be good to evaluate my life again with that in view. Hoping to glean some more conviction/enlightenment from my physical surroundings, I began to take note of what sort of things need to improve in order for my apartment to be more in order. And this is what I saw:

Nothing big. No huge overhauls. (A little one, though. I’ll see to that in the morning!) Nothing notable, really; just little things. But all of those little things added up to one big thing, I realized. I need to be more observant and more of a “doer” all day long. If I had noticed and done something about every little out-of-place thing, my home would have been left in a better state of order. If each moment, I was determined to make the area I was in conform to the Kingdom, to the best of my ability, there would be no little things to add up to a big thing.

Translate: Are there huge things to overhaul in my life in order to be a wise virgin with plenty of oil? Maybe. But maybe not. More than likely, the preparation I need to invest has much more to do with my diligence moment to moment. How am I thinking about circumstances and people? Is the gate to my mind undergoing full-time maintenance, or do I let it get run down? How is my attitude? When my tongue utters the overflow of my heart, what comes out? Do I repent quickly, or am I letting hardness settle in, here and there? Am I quick to heed the soft whispers of the Holy Spirit?

Sometimes I’d so much rather overhaul that I fail to notice the two hangers on the floor, halfway beneath the dresser. Am I like that spiritually?

So tomorrow I’ll be tidying up, and then all day long, trying to remember to notice and do the right thing. And while I’m at it, I’ll be pondering this:

If Jesus were to come and take me today, would I be happy to see a picture of my life, just the way I left it?