as i'm gearing up to write my big thankful list this week, i need to write a little precursor.
in everything, give thanks. it's so simple. but can i make it ring true in my life? some days it's hard. the past several weeks i've been sort of.. distracted. ineffective. letting the dishes pile up. procrastinating on the gym. just sort of plodding along, in a funny kind of slump. last week i mentioned to a friend that i was afraid of this spirit of "sliding by" i had let creep in on me. i was constantly keeping handy a mindset of, "hmm. i don't really feel like it." now, don't get me wrong- my days are cheery enough. after all, christmas is coming! but all the more reason for me to wonder at why i felt so out of it. then today i read this:
Heaven is not here, it's There. If we were given all we wanted here, our hearts would settle for this world rather than the next. God is forever luring us up and away from this one, wooing us to Himself and His still invisible kingdom, where we will certainly find what we so keenly long for.
"Running aground," (a trial, a failure, a slump, whatever has you feeling unsatisfied) then, is not the end of the world. But it helps to make the world a bit less appealing. It may even be God's answer to "Lead us not into temptation"- the temptation complacently to settle for visible things.
elisabeth elliot
keep a quiet heart
this was the perfect reminder to straighten me out. if everything went absolutely smoothly everyday, if i was always satisfied and never out of it, if i was completely content with how i'm doing and forever fulfilled with "visible things," i would certainly not want to leave. i would never desire heaven. i wouldn't depend on Him for my joy. everything would be all wrong. this world will never satisfy fully, and i should stop trying to make it do so. that's not what it's been designed to do.
so i can be thankful in all things, including and maybe especially a slump. (which by the way, has been fading recently) thank you Lord, for keeping me in check. thank you for trials and failures and all the little things that go wrong. thank you for reminding me that no matter how merry the days are here, they will be even more dazzling There!
November 22, 2010
9 comments:
I needed this today. Thank YOU.
Such Truth!! I love it...thank you.
fantastic message. thanks for sharing. I've been in a slump too and it's driving me crazy! but maybe that's the point :)
great message and reminder for us all!
Thanks Summer! Just what I needed to hear too.
how true. thanks so much for the reminder, sweet Summer!
Thank you so much for the words of encouragement! They are a blessing to me today.
Thankyou, Summer, for sharing your thoughts, and the brilliantly wise words of Elizabeth Elliot. I too have been feeling the 'slump' and it is so helpful (and necessary!) to put it in the context of eternity, and the command for us to be thankful in all things.
I literally just got done closing my bible after reading Colossians chap 3 and then flipped over to 1 Thessalonians chap 5:18 specifically~ which is exactly what your post was about! It was a beautiful thing to add to my own personal reflection... and taking a moment today to think about what exactly it means to be thankful no matter the circumstance. - thank you summer!