real business

"The real business of your life as a saved soul is intercessory prayer.  Wherever God puts you in circumstances, pray immediately, pray that His Atonement may be realized in others lives as it has been in yours.  Pray for your friends now; pray for those with whom you come in contact with now."

Oswald Chambers "My Utmost for His Highest (June 20)"

Too often I get confused by my "real business"... what is my job, my passion, my direction in life?  And too often my business becomes about doing and convincing and pushing.... and not allowing and abiding.  Hardly anyone likes to sit and just let life happen.

We worry that should we sit too long we'll never find the motivation to leave our plush seats.  Soon we'll find that we have taken on the characteristics of the comfy chairs we have sat in. We become plush and comfy and inactive just like our chairs.

So the pendulum swings the other way and we reject the comfy chair and we get busy doing life.  We do life at fast pace.  We "catch" our breath when we sleep and we enjoy each other through social networks.  How often have I "caught up" with a good friend by looking at her pictures on Facebook? "Oh! You went to Europe? Looks like a great trip." I never even communicate to said friend I let my fingertips and eyeballs do the communicating while never actually inconveniencing myself.  Can't look at all the pictures? No problem, I'll just pick and choose what happens to be easiest for me.

So we're in a bind.  Either we become comfy couches snuggled under our blankets of "relaxing" or we become a social piranhas with 700 friends and no one near to talk to.

Don't get me wrong, I like relaxing.  I consider 7:05PM "my time" after the Love Bugs have gone to bed and 99% of the time end up on the couch.  It's wonderful and restful.  Sometimes "my time" ends up connecting with long distance friends through Facebook.  Now that my friends are having babies and working full time hours, I feel guilty calling late at night because of the time differences.  So hear me out, I like relaxing and I like Facebook, Pinterest, etc.

But what I really like were Oswald's thoughts above because it struck me as the perfect chord played in a harmony of connecting & abiding.  When we stop to pray for someone we are connecting with them in a higher sense than we could ever hope to connect via Facebook.  A true test of friendship is whether I am willing to get on my knees and offer up prayer on behalf of that person.

It's also abiding in the Lord because we are talking to Him and hearing from Him. Too often I take to the Lord my issues and then sign off and get on my way.  But I need to learn to hear from God.  I've heard it said that you can hear from God in the midst of chaos.  Which is good because my life can be chaotic.  As I write this I stare at the mess of a lifetime mocking me from behind.  I literally step-slid in avocado chunks to get to the computer to write this. Lord, speak to me in the chaos!

Now, don't take that as your excuse to make your life chaotic but take heart if you can't help but feel like you're treading water in life right now.  When God gives you slow seasons, take them, wallow in them, enjoy them... sit at a coffeeshop and read. read. READ. But then when God gives you busy seasons and messy avocado seasons, enjoy those and as you're tiptoeing around the crazy mess you call life still ABIDE. Pray and give thanks!  The cool thing about praying is that it can be done anywhere at anytime by anyone. Awesome! Changing diapers? Pray! Alone with the Word at a coffeeshop? Pray! Listening to screaming kids? Pray! Lunch with a friend? Pray!

Wherever you are in life, don't underestimate the ability of prayer. 

"do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" Philippians 4:6

"be constant in prayer" Romans 12:12

"pray without ceasing" 1 Thessalonians 5:17