So, I just decided to settle in and get comfortable in my laundry room. I got a glass of tea and tuned into one of my favorite online websites where I could listen to some positive teachings of the Word of God while I worked. It became simple at that point. Fold, categorize and then distribute. Divide colors from whites and begin washing. As shirts came out of the dryer, I had my iron ready for pressing! I developed a rhythm. I felt invincible when it came to this room! I was really on a roll! As a result, I went to bed with a clean laundry room!
I know all this sounds rather silly and very domestic, but did you know that we can tackle life in the very same manner?!
Check this out...
2 Samuel 22:30 (ESV)
For by You I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.
2 Samuel 22:30 (ESV)
For by You I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.
Have you ever ran in an organized race, like a 5K, or something longer? Years ago, my husband and used to participate in triathlons. (Some day I want to get back into that - they're so much fun!) We would run in 5Ks just for fun; as part of our training for the triathlon. I remember on our very first 5K an army troop passed us. For a while we ran just behind them. It really made our running easier and more defined. Why? It was how they ran and what they did during the run that encouraged us to keep up with them. Here are just a few of the things that I observed about their running:
1. They had a steady rhythm
2. They stayed together - they were all in step together
3. They would chant as they ran
4. They kept the same pace no matter what the weather or terrain was like
No wonder we wanted to try to keep up with them! We did for a while - but their pace was faster than we could endure. I thought about this as I read this verse from 2 Samuel this morning. David has just won numerous battles against his enemies when he wrote this. In fact, this verse is a part of a prayer that David prayed to the Lord. He says, by the Lord, he can run against any troop. Now, I'm pretty sure he was referring to fighting against enemy troops - but as I read it - I thought about running beside this army corps in the 5K race. Imagine what our lives would look like if we applied this principle to running through life! Imagine for a moment. With the Lord we can be steady. With the Lord we can be in step with His plan for our life. With the Lord, we can keep up the pace when the road gets rocky and the rains begin to pour. I just love visuals! I would love to be able to have the same determination, unwavering rhythm in my life as that troop did in the race - and with the Lord I can do exactly that!
But wait! There's more here to uncover! David also says that by God he can leap over a wall! Do you have some walls in your life that you wish you could just leap over? I know I do and during my prayer time I listed them out in my journal. Take some time today to write out and pray over the walls that you face. As I wrote them out, I remembered my laundry pile and how I had to leap over it just to get started on my task. But as I established a rhythm and a steady pace, my pile went down. I was "leaping" over this pile (this "wall" of laundry). I'm remembering that childhood game "leapfrog"! With and by God we too can play leapfrog over the walls in our life. I believe that if we put these two concepts together we can leap right over the walls that seems to shut us out from our dreams and from establishing the good life God wants for us. If we first will run with God we can establish a rhythm, a pace and a determination so that when we encounter those walls, we'll just leap right over them with the strength that God is instilling within us!
Okay, this all sounds good in theory and the visual is even fun to ponder, but how do we REALLY make this happen? I believe that the magic happens in the chant. The chant? Remember the chant that the army corps was "singing" as they ran by us? For believers, this is God's Word. We can sing - chant - read - His Word to help us keep up the pace, to keep the rhythm and to scale the walls. Yesterday while doing the laundry it helped me SO VERY MUCH to put on some Christian music and listen to some Christian speakers on my computer while ironing and folding the laundry. I know it sounds silly - but this was God's Word in action! I was so in tune with what I was hearing that the task at hand seemed small. So this week, whatever wall you're facing, tune into God's Word (through music, reading, or listening) and see if you don't find the strength to run with the best of them and scale those walls no matter what the road looks like!
I love you all dearly!
Your sis in the faith,
Pen
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4 comments:
Awesome message! Thank you for the inspiration!! I need to do a better job about keeping a rhythm in my faith life. I loved what you said about "The Chant". That is so true!! I cannot tell you how many times recently I've been thinking about a wall, or hill, or rocky road and I've found a Christian song or hymn running through my mind that addresses it. God is truly amazing!!
I reread this tonight as I was thinking about next week. A rhythm --now that's what I need. Because experience has told me that I will have those mountains of clothes, shoes, toys, empty Caprisun boxes... Oh what joy!! We'll just all fall in together and count off ten (as in the Ten Commandments) while we re-group for the next day. Now that's a plan. And oh yeah!! Pray a lot. Laugh a lot. Turn a blind eye a lot too. What you do not see you do not have to discipline. We are going to be a fine-tuned legacy machine!! Love ya girl. Thanks for letting me be the grandmother I never dreamed I'd be...
Thank you so much for this post. It is exactly what I needed to read today. I enjoyed reading it very much.
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