Hi Mommas ! This has me so excited, I can hardly contain my excitement.
This morning was a pretty typical Tuesday morning. I woke up early to get my daughter ready for school. It took a bit of convincing (typical), but we got her snack together, lunch made, and out the door with daddy just in time.
My son wasn’t awake yet so I took the time to get the house cleaned up from our evening prior. You know... toys all over the living room, a few dishes in the sink, random dirty socks in the hallway - always, shoes to be put away... just some tidying up. Typical.
I then put myself together a bit and made an incredible cup of coffee. Typical (and delicious).
My son was still sleeping so I decided to grab my Bible and do a bit of reading, reflection, and prayer. Sort of typical.
At the beginning of this year, I told myself that I was going to read the Bible from cover to cover. All over the internet are “schedules” that tell you how many verses to read per day to finish the Bible in exactly 1 year. 365 days. Well, friends, this morning I started 2 Chronicles. For any of you that don’t consider yourself a Bible scholar (such as myself), spoiler alert, I’m not anywhere near “on track“ to finish when I was supposed to. Let’s be honest, this year hasn’t exactly gone as planned for most of us. BUT, God is so intentional and so good. Keep reading.
Back when I bought my bible, I decided on the ‘Life Application Study Bible’. I thought this would help me gain a better understanding of what I was reading. This version contains cliff notes, character profiles, extra explanations, etc. - a great choice for beginners like me. At the beginning of each book, there is an introduction of what that particular book is going to be about, whom the original audience was, who wrote it, along with a few other fun things to know; one of them being a “key verse”. It’s kind of fun to have a verse to look forward to that seems to pull everything together.
The “key verse” in 2 Chronicles is 7:14 which reads, “Then if my people who are called by name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”
So good, right ? We talk about the importance of humility often at our house. I believe it is such an important quality to posses. And what a great reminder it is that we serve a God who is so willing to forgive us which, ultimately, enables us to draw nearer to Him. In turn, he promises restoration of our land. Jesus knows we need that right now.
All good things, right ? Hang on, it gets better.
In addition to my trusty Life Application Bible, I also have the Bible app on my phone. Every day, at 10:15 am, it sends me a “daily verse”. Mommas !! Today, my daily verse was 2 Chronicles 7:14 ! Seriously. I looked at my Apple watch and seriously gasped. I then, out loud, said, “Ok,” as I looked heaven-ward. (Or was it an eye roll?) He is such a show off sometimes.
I spent some time in prayer this morning and asked for forgiveness and restoration. I truly felt like I received some clarification and validation that I had been asking for. Another important lesson that I felt was laid on my heart, though, was to take the time. Mommas (and non-mommas), we are so busy. It seems there is always something (or someone) that needs attention. An errand needs to be ran, a counter (or hiney) needs to be wiped, an owie needs to be kissed, and so on and so forth. Don’t get me wrong, I like a good to-do list. I like to be busy and I love the feeling of the good ‘ol checkmark in that empty checkbox. However, I’ve especially felt lately, that I need to pour into myself in other ways. I need to pour into my spirit. I need to allow the time to not only invest in the right “things”, those life-giving things, but I also need time to just listen. To reflect. To hear. God has something that He needs to tell each of us and, today, I’m so glad that He was willing to tell me, not once, but twice. I’m glad I took the time to open my Bible. I’m glad I took the time to pray. I’m glad I took the time to just be. Be grateful. Be humble. Be intentional. Be still.
I’m going to attempt to make time for these things. To do a better job prioritizing. I deserve that. He deserves that. Will you join me ?
Until next time...
Your,
([not too] busy) Christian Momma