(Sadly, I missed Day 5’s post. Oh well. Onward to Day 6.)
Narrowing down my topic to one thing was really hard today. I’m pulled in a hundred directions. I have thirteen chores clamoring for my attention even as I write this post. I should go clean up the kitchen. I need to bake a birthday cake. I’ve been skipping between things for hours now, remembering another thing I need to do, getting interrupted on my way to do it, and re-remembering it fifteen minutes (and five other jobs) later.
It might help if I prioritized myself. If I knew where to start, the other things may just fall into place.
That’s the reason there are concrete trucks driving in and out my driveway today. They are pouring the walls for the basement of our new house. The forms are finished and are being filled, and when they are removed, we will have the basics of a house.
It’s been amazing to watch them. The hollow forms placed in exact places, measured and re-measured, because once this concrete cures…that’s it. Changing it will require lots of manpower (and money!). So once the walls are set, that’s our basement. That’s our house.
Everything is determined by the foundation.
Same for me, I suspect. My craziness runs rampant because, so many days, I lack a clear and firm foundation. I have only a vague starting point, and so I flutter from thing to thing. The “house” I build is sketchy at best (and down right unstable at worst) because I don’t have a clear foundation for my day.
So here is my reminder to myself: Go back to the beginning. Just like Inigo Montoya from the Princess Bride, “Fezzini say, ‘Go back to the beginning.'” And for me, the morning began with this verse:
May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. (2 Thess. 3:5 ESV)
That is where I’m going this afternoon, to direct my heart – to send it back to – the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ. He is love. I am loved. He will never change. He will never leave me. My to-do list is not the defining value of my day. What I don’t get done can be addressed later or tomorrow. What matters is settling onto the foundation of eternal value and building from there.
So, here’s to a renewed vision for the afternoon. A chance to refocus, re-direct, myself to a sure foundation in Christ. And from there to work as He leads to build a house, a day, that pleases Him.
