Savouring the moment

It's been a while since either of us wrote here. It seems to me as if life has been a challenge and I feel like my energy has been used in simply getting through the days and weeks with not very much left for inspiration to put words to page.

This 'getting through', this survival mode has been a little bell ringing gently in my mind and as I tune my consciousness into actually listening to the sound, I become more aware of why the bell has been ringing. It has been wanting my attention, it has been a whisper telling me that this surely is not what life should look like, this survival, this getting through each day, head down, lips pursed, making it to bed only to awaken and go though the motions again - I must survive, I must survive. Yet, how many of us live our lives like this, week in, week out, year in, year out. Just getting through with the occasional oasis of relief in the form of a holiday, a movie, time with friends, a bar of Cadburys!

I am realising somewhere deeper in my being that each day is formed from little moments, all joined together and that if I can learn to catch these little moments I go from survival mode to life in fullness. I am beginning to see that each moment is drenched in richness and fullness - the sound of wind in the trees, the sun warming my skin, the sound of rain on the ground, a mouthful of good coffee, a comfy chair, a smile, my favourite tv programme. If only I could truly learn to savour these precious moments, to become thankful for them - the small things, the everyday things that pass me by because I am surviving the big picture. These moments diminish the big picture and they take the heaviness out of having to have it all worked out. As I savour the moment I am able to remember that there is someone bigger than me, someone utterly and totally in control. I remember that I am known incredibly intimately and that He has it covered. I realise that He is flooding my life with promise and goodness in every little moment He sends my way, if only I breathe in and savour.

I was talking with a friend who was telling me about a woman she knows who really does know how to live in the moment. My friend tells a very funny story of when she and her family arrive at this friends house one evening. They walk in and the lady is animated and tells them to listen to the vacuum cleaner, she asks if they can hear the note that the vacuum cleaner is playing and she tells them to harmonise along with the note, so all four of them stand there singing along to the vacuum cleaner laughing their head off! I was so touched by this story let alone the fact that if I need a laugh I just remember it. I love the childlike delight of the moment and the ability to find life and laughter even in the sound of the vacuum cleaner.

I'm not very good at living in the moment yet, I get distracted by the big picture, I get pulled into survival mode, but I do know that if I could truly live the moment life would look so different. So I'm going to keep practicing and I may even find a little song in the vacuum cleaner the next time I use it!

Fools for God

The Bible tells me that "the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight" (1 Cor 3:19) and that "the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom" (1 Cor 1:25). I can't help but wonder if what we are doing is just our foolishness or the wisdom of God? Giving up life as it is 'normally' lived - with a job, a mortgage and two weeks of summer sun; waiting for God to intervene in our lives, to show us and tell us what He would have us do and say; choosing to follow Him whatever the cost, yet not knowing where that leads or what it looks like. Is that really wisdom or just foolishness?

In this vein, I was wondering this morning as I lay in bed what the disciples would have felt, waiting in the upper room for the promised Holy Spirit? They wouldn't have known what it was going to look like when He showed up, they wouldn't have know how long they were going to have to wait - it could have been years, after all Israel had waited over 400 years for the promised Messiah to come. Would they have been in constant prayer and worship? Would they have been telling stories about Jesus or speculating about the Holy Spirit and the difference He would make to their lives? Would they have been wondering about the power they would have after Jesus Himself told them they would do greater works than Him?

For us, this time and these circumstances we find ourselves in have felt much like our own upper room, but are Jesus' words relevant for us in today's times? Does He really want me to 'wait for the gift my Father has promised' as He instructed His disciples to do? He also tells them that with this gift they will 'receive power so that they might be witnesses...to the ends of the earth' (Acts 1). I know I'm not living in the power He promised and I can't believe that what I have experienced so far is the fullness of His promise to us - it's simply not enough when I know He is the God of 'much more'. There has to be more, much more, and as His beloved son, this fullness is promised to me, it's my inheritance.

So I will wait for Him, not knowing what it looks like or when it will come, expectantly and full of hope, for the fullness of the Holy Spirit to fill me, to change me from glory to glory, flowing from me to bring His kingdom to the ends of the earth. I must have all of Him, nothing else will satisfy, I am spoiled for anything else. Until then, we will wait, we will will pray, we will worship, we will talk about Jesus and speculate about the signs and wonders we might see, for God has made a promise and He does not disappoint. I'm a fool for God and there's nothing else I'd rather be!

Mike x