How do you use your hours between Sundays? 167 hours between church services appears to be enough hours to accomplish great things. However, often I return the following week wondering where did the time go? What did I do with my minutes? Then the guilt engulfs my thoughts and replies “nothing.” Oh, sure I made 42 meals, did laundry, drove in circles, and, ummmm, not sure what else. This realization haunts me for a minute or two, and I say to myself, next week will be different. What should I be accomplishing in those hours? How do I worship throughout the week? How do I choose to invest my time? My choice to follow Christ impacts each part of my life, each moment of the week. The other major choices I have made, such as marriage, kids, where to live, what job to pursue, all have pieces of my heart and my time. Then there is the grocery shopping and other basic needs to check off the list. So, what takes up the week? Pursuing God is what my heart desires at least for the moments right after worship service. So how does this change so quickly into grumbles, mumbles, and lethargy? To combat the issue, I must make a better plan.
Grumbles usually follow within minutes of turning my focus from God to me. God has given me so much and I start grumbling about what I don’t have. I am like a child taken to Disneyland, complaining that my candy is the wrong shade of pink. This is when I need to stop and take into account the amazing things God has done for me. Stop the grumble and start the humble. I must realize who I am and where I would be without God. List 10 things your thanking God for this week?
I often start mumbling soon after driving out of the church parking lot. These comments usually are pointed at others: “if only my kids would” “if only my husband would” “if the guy in the car in front of me would move over”. How do I change my perspective? The sermon this last week about God’s upside down world challenged my thinking. My hours need to be filled with caring for others as God loves me. Stop the mumbles and start making an impact with love. Who can I impact this week?
The lethargy slips in soon after I spy my couch. I have worked so hard, battling through a Costco trip and other worthy pursuits; now to slip onto the couch, put my feet up, and rest. My mind slowly disappears into computer games or tv land of nothing. How do I wake up my soul? God has put a passion within me to walk with HIM and talk with HIM and rest in HIM. Stop the lethargy; start resting in God’s Word and HIS love for me. What are the go to verses from this week’s sermon? My heart was challenged this week with the following quote to pursue God’s Word, which will change my heart towards living my 167 hours to their fullest without grumbles, mumbles, or lethargy.
“In the Bible, the ‘heart’ is an amalgamation of ideas, beliefs, values, feelings, and memories. It is the interior motivational structure that produces behavior. … Only the Holy Spirit can change the heart, yet the Spirit chooses regularly to use the preaching of the Word to save and sanctify. The Word is water that cleanses, milk that nourishes, a sword that pierces, a lamp for guidance, fire that purifies, seed that grows and bears fruit, a mirror that shows us our true selves, and a hammer that breaks stone.” (Jeffrey Arthurs, “The Worlds of the Listener” in The Worlds of the Preacher: Navigating Biblical, (Baker Academic, 2018), pgs. 94-95)
Glad to be walking with you on this journey,
Liz Leitz
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