I have been looking forward to the Easter weekend for some time now. Four days away from work instead of the usual two day weekend. Time to rest a little and just reconnect with me. I also wanted to ride my bike and spend some more time with the Lord. Life had become so rushed lately, it would seem. I've been so busy squeezing things in, but some more valuable things had become a bit squeezed out, I've noticed.
I started my weekend off sleeping in a little bit later than the usual 6am, and just as I awoke the electricity went out. Not AgAiN!! I wanted to say. We've been out of electricity so frequently lately. We've closed the office more than twice the past two weeks for sitting in the dark without computers. I've got stuck with my motorcycle just to finally get to my dad's house - guess what? No electricity and he can't see in the dark to help me. I've sat in class at college having a lecture by candlelight because of load shedding. I didn't really want to say. I wanted to scream.
What I've realized from the past two weeks is that when a few things go wrong concurrently or successively I tend to feel as if everything is going wrong. I lose sight of all the things that are still perfectly fine. Things like being able to put one foot in front of the other perfectly to walk, or to see without needing glasses, or how my fingertips move and every nerve responds to messages from my brain. The fact that I can think and reason - and even write this blog post on the keyboard. I breath without assistance and I sleep like a log. I have hot water and real nice clothes to wear - cool in summer and warm in winter. I sleep on a bed and not the floor and I have shelter from rain and wind and cold. There are so much more that I can mention. These are but a few.
Just because SOME things go wrong SOME of the time doesn't mean EVERYTHING is going wrong ALL of the time... no matter how it feels.
During the past week I felt the Lord tell me to be on the lookout for interruptions to my normal routine. To watch how I behave and adjust in order to take it in my stride; To watch to stay in line with what pleases Him and to be sensitive to Holy Spirit. Even if I don't understand, there is method to the madness.
So this morning my instinctive thought was What am I supposed to do today without power?! and to complain because I haven't even had my morning coffee. Instead, I remembered what the Lord spoke to my heart and I decided to see it as a blessing in disguise.
I planned on using the longer weekend to make more time to spend with the Lord - to really think about what Easter means and to put the chocolate aside for a minute. With electricity I found myself starting the day checking my e-mail and Facebook instead. Next thing I might have wanted to move on to other things and I still would not have spent the quality time with the Lord I had planned on. The electricity outage kind of steered me exactly towards where I should have been: Starting my day in the Lord's presence instead of on the computer. I decided to spend the quality time and to be thankful for everything else that was still perfectly fine.
All things considered it was the best way to start this (very) Good Friday. It was good to be reminded that I actually have everything I need because I have Christ. The rest? The rest is really all just nice to have, not need to have. I appreciate and use them as long as I can, but I also know I can be alright without them.
More than being concerned with going without, it is our attitude during those times of going without that we should be worried about.
All and all I'd say it was a very Good Friday indeed.
I started my weekend off sleeping in a little bit later than the usual 6am, and just as I awoke the electricity went out. Not AgAiN!! I wanted to say. We've been out of electricity so frequently lately. We've closed the office more than twice the past two weeks for sitting in the dark without computers. I've got stuck with my motorcycle just to finally get to my dad's house - guess what? No electricity and he can't see in the dark to help me. I've sat in class at college having a lecture by candlelight because of load shedding. I didn't really want to say. I wanted to scream.
What I've realized from the past two weeks is that when a few things go wrong concurrently or successively I tend to feel as if everything is going wrong. I lose sight of all the things that are still perfectly fine. Things like being able to put one foot in front of the other perfectly to walk, or to see without needing glasses, or how my fingertips move and every nerve responds to messages from my brain. The fact that I can think and reason - and even write this blog post on the keyboard. I breath without assistance and I sleep like a log. I have hot water and real nice clothes to wear - cool in summer and warm in winter. I sleep on a bed and not the floor and I have shelter from rain and wind and cold. There are so much more that I can mention. These are but a few.
Just because SOME things go wrong SOME of the time doesn't mean EVERYTHING is going wrong ALL of the time... no matter how it feels.
During the past week I felt the Lord tell me to be on the lookout for interruptions to my normal routine. To watch how I behave and adjust in order to take it in my stride; To watch to stay in line with what pleases Him and to be sensitive to Holy Spirit. Even if I don't understand, there is method to the madness.
So this morning my instinctive thought was What am I supposed to do today without power?! and to complain because I haven't even had my morning coffee. Instead, I remembered what the Lord spoke to my heart and I decided to see it as a blessing in disguise.
I planned on using the longer weekend to make more time to spend with the Lord - to really think about what Easter means and to put the chocolate aside for a minute. With electricity I found myself starting the day checking my e-mail and Facebook instead. Next thing I might have wanted to move on to other things and I still would not have spent the quality time with the Lord I had planned on. The electricity outage kind of steered me exactly towards where I should have been: Starting my day in the Lord's presence instead of on the computer. I decided to spend the quality time and to be thankful for everything else that was still perfectly fine.
All things considered it was the best way to start this (very) Good Friday. It was good to be reminded that I actually have everything I need because I have Christ. The rest? The rest is really all just nice to have, not need to have. I appreciate and use them as long as I can, but I also know I can be alright without them.
More than being concerned with going without, it is our attitude during those times of going without that we should be worried about.
All and all I'd say it was a very Good Friday indeed.
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