What God's Been Teaching Me Lately
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This past spring, my son celebrated his 7th birthday. He announced one evening at bedtime, "Mom, now that I'm seven, and now that I've made Jesus the boss of my life, I think that I'd like to be baptized. Will you do it with me?" I was a little taken aback. I know that we'd talked about baptism, and I was aware of the teaching in his sunday classes, but I was still a little surprised (happily) that he would make the connection and ask to participate.
Jesus instructed, “Believe and be baptized” (Mark 16:16). Those who chose to follow Jesus were baptized as an outward sign of an inward conversion experience. What a celebration!!
This summer, my son, my husband, my sister-in-law, and me all joined arms as we were baptized in the lake at Northwestern College. What an amazing experience. As the cool waters surrounded us, we were brought out of the water afresh, renewed, and given a strong sense of the Holy Spirit within each one of us. My son loves telling others the story of his baptism, and we were so blessed to have many friends join us in support of this occasion. No matter your thoughts on infant, adult, sprinkling, immersion, etc., that day I watched as over 200 people walked into the water, announced their faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, and were baptized in His name. It just doesn't get much more powerful than that. I know that his spirit was poured out upon all who were there.
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Over the years, I have participated in countless Bible studies and listened to several messages that address busyness. I always fancied eliminating busyness from my life, but it was really more of a pipe dream than a reality for a person like me, who is constantly taking on more projects, more play dates and more of everything. As someone who prides herself on getting things done, I have always been busy. Whether it’s healthy or not, eliminating items from my to-do list seems to be a daily goal for me. It’s how I’m wired.
This month, however, I have been engrossed in a study on eliminating hurry from my life. The author, John Ortberg says that “in order to be spiritually healthy, you must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” He didn’t ask me to stop being busy, he just told me to quit hurrying. He says that hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day because we can become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied, that we engage in a mediocre version of our faith at best. “Hurry will destroy your soul,” he says, and that if we want true spiritual growth and transformation, we need to let our faith percolate instead of forcing it in the microwave.
I have always tried to employ time-saving practices that will allow me to move slower, but all they do is give me more time to pack more into an already-packed schedule. My problem is not a disordered schedule. My problem is a disordered heart. So I entered a period of training myself to allow my soul a slower pace. I began each day with reading Psalm 23, which has been my “life verse” for many years now, but I looked at it in a different way. The first three verses say,
“Because the Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need.
He lets walk in meadows green and leads me beside the quiet streams.”
If I truly allow the Lord to guide me and care for me, and I allow him to bring me to green pastures and still water, then I will indeed receive the rest and rejuvenation that He knows I need. But if I continue to hurry through my day, through my tasks and through my time with my children, then I will never receive everything that I need from Him.
I started practicing being present in each activity, instead of allowing my mind to worry about what needed to be done next. I started giving myself and my family more time to get ready to get out the door, so that I was not using the “bad voice” that my 4-year old reminds me I use when we are rushed. I protected my time of solitude like a hawk protects her young. I am always so amazed at the amount of pressure I can shoulder when I’ve had my time of solitude in the early morning hours. It keeps me focused throughout the day. I was amazed at the big transformation in my attitude, and in my kids’ attitudes, in such a short amount of time. Ruthlessly eliminating hurry… it has begun to restore my soul.
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