Showing posts with label Micah 6:8. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Micah 6:8. Show all posts

A Humble Walk

We have a humbling job in caregiving. We don't often talk about some of the baser things we have to deal with. It's obviously not acceptable on a social level, and seriously, how would those sorts of things work into a conversation? lol When most people see us, we're all cleaned up, dressed up and presentable. There are very few people who see us up walking the floor at night, carrying out the odorous trash bags, ordering incontinence supplies and all the little nitty-gritty things that go into just one of our days. I've yet to have anyone take me up on walking through a day with me from start to finish. Finish? What's that?

 We truly want to protect the dignity of our loved ones, so there are some things, they may never know. It can be very humbling to take care of a whole person. It's also an honor, but when I am taking care of some of the more personal stuff, my thoughts can go crazy. Here I am doing this, and I thought I was called to the mission field. Smh. I think about how I used to lead worship. Is this where God wants me?  I taught Bible classes (still do online). I think I was way off about what God called me to do. These are just a few of the thoughts running through my mind while doing some caregiving tasks.

Don't get me wrong - I don't want to be anywhere else. I don't want to leave my son. He is my priority mission and ministry right now. And I am okay with that. I just didn't see this coming. The future looked a lot different in my head 11 years ago. I was going to reach retirement age and travel around the world. Actually, I was scheduled to go to Africa in January '09 when the wreck occurred in November '08. It took me awhile to be "okay" with that. Again, it was humbling.

Sometimes life BC (before caregiving) or during caregiving, just doesn't make sense. We may never know the "why" behind things that happen in life. And maybe someday it will all make sense. whether or not it ever makes sense, we have lots of choices to make. I find myself making them over and over every single day it seems. Some days are it's-all-in-your-face days and I find myself choosing between anger and peace, between frustration and joy, between ranting and praying.

Lately, I've been studying about walking humbly with God. (Micah 6:8) And this morning I fell into Psalm 25:9. He leads the humble in what is right, teaching them His way. (NLT,1996) The journey really is much easier if we walk humbly before Him. While our circumstances bring about a humility, the one we choose gets us closer to Him. I can choose to rant and rave - and you guys know I do that from time to time - but it doesn't move Him near like coming before Him in humility and acknowledging, Lord, I am still Your child. I'm still Your servant. I am still a worshipper. That's when He begins to move heaven on our behalf.

Circumstances and situations may or may not change, but walking in humility before Him means we are still pliable, moldable in His hands. I still want to learn His ways, whether or not I ever understand life's struggles. I want to know more about Him period. Choosing humility will keep us teachable, and boy do I have a lot to learn!

Today, I will continue thinking about what it means to humble myself before Him, what it means to be pliable in His hand and remain teachable. I'm also going to think about ways and areas where I haven't exhibited humility - I want to address those areas because I want to be solely His. I'll concentrate on humbling myself before Him in prayer, in worship, in study, in attitude (it might be a long day.. lol). And I will humble myself to trust Him for today. Will you join me?

It's So Simple, Really!

Last night I was conducting a Bible study via skype and there were some questions asked about the old Law and if they are all applicable. She asked if there would be a big difference when she gets over to the New Testament, since she's presently reading the Bible all the way through. Immediately I thought of two or three scriptures in the Old Testament that are what I call sums it all up passages.

 We took a look at Micah 6:6-8. Micah is meditating on what God requires. He asked rhetorically if God is pleased when we bring Him rivers of oil, or if we present before Him thousands of rams...And then he goes on in verse 8 to talk about what is pleasing to the Lord...

 do justice
love mercy
walk humbly with your God...

 And that about sums it up! For many caregivers we literally cannot do all the religious things like going to church, singing in the choir....etc. For us, and anyone else who wants to live a life humbly before our God this lets us know how much simpler it is than what we've made it. It's not the religious activity that gets the attention of His heart...it's our heart's activity toward Him. And that's much simpler than trying to jump through all the religious hoops to be pleasing to Him.

 Relax today in knowing that He isn't instituting a whole lot of rules that must be followed before we can reach Him. He's actually reaching out to us and waiting for us to get simple enough to just come...

The Stare

  Do you ever just find yourself sitting and staring at the wall? It doesn't really happen too often because, quite frankly, who has tim...