Seek First

You know how people always grumble on Mondays, about how the weekend went by too quickly, it won't be the weekend for another 5 days, there's so much to do, etc. Well, I love Mondays! To keep from workng on the sabbath, anything that pops into my head to do, I just write down, and when that is added to all of the things I didn't finish from last week, by Monday I have a pretty long list. I am not usually overwhelmed by this, in fact I love crossing things off as I do them, and I never want to feel like I have 'nothing' to do! Yesterday after I put the kids down for nap time though, I wasn't feeling my normal excitement about tackling that to-do list. I found myself wishing that it were Tuesday. I wanted to run to my Bible, to pray, to send people letters of encouragement. Sadly, I talked myself out of it and did a few 'essentials' first, then ended up writing some letters to  people. Now I totally understand that these things to be done (like that rental agreement that needs to be renewed for us to live here!), but I heard God reminding me yesterday and today to...

The Word:
"Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33

"These things" Jesus is talking about are the food, clothing, and shelter, which in the previous chapters He told them not to worry about. So even though I need to maintain these basic needs of living, I need to trust that seeking God and serving Him first is a better way to live. I absolutely saw this promise fulfilled in college when God prompted me to memorize scripture- a lot of scripture, like I would spend at least two hours every day in the corner of the library overlooking campus just praying and reviweing memory verses. A friend once asked me how I had time to do this, she felt so swamped with school work and other extra-curriculars. My only answer was to paraphrase this verse to her- that I didn't really know, but when I made time for this, everything else still got done somehow. No we could continue analyzing this all day- was my course load lighter than hers, my subjects easier, was I faster at completing assignments, did she have more going on, etc. I fully admit the importance of not being overcommitted (though in college I had a lot of committments!), to leave room for 'Holy Interruptions' and service, and I know some things had to be sacrificed by taking this time (so I got a 90% on a test instead of a 100%), but I am so confident that it was 'worth' the time in the way that God revealed Himself to me through His words, taught me to love others, recognize truth when I see it, identify where God is working, etc. I have a daily quiet time almost every morning, but I am finding an increased joy in Tuesday afternoons that I know I owe a debt of thanks to God for- His presence brings light, joy, peace.....and next time I feel God calling me to Himself, whether it is Monday afternoon, Friday morning- whenever- I will thank Him for reminding me of my need for Him, and stop to enjoy Him!

Prayer:
That we will seek FIRST His kingdom and His righteousness, and trust God will provide.