Press On and Again I Say, PRESS ON!

How many times must you be instructed in an area before you learn the lesson at hand?

These must be the very words that I’m sure my Heavenly Father imparts to me on a continual basis concerning certain areas of my life! Sometimes it takes me a while. Thankfully He is all knowing, full of Wisdom and very patient with me.

These are the thoughts that I lingered over last evening. I thought about how MANY times I’m sure the Lord laid wonderful goals and habits upon my heart to begin. Many times I’ll start to embark upon the path that lays a foundation for bringing these new habits and objectives into being. But guess what! You probably know what I’m going to say. Distractions COME! They come in ALL different sizes and shapes. Big ones and little ones. It’s not necessarily even the BIG things that throw me off the course, it’s the little things. Here is a prime example from a few years ago; I am a paper person. I love books and lists and schedules and check-off charts. I love the tools we use with paper; highlighters, BIC pens, gel pens and Sharpies! Being the homeschool family that we are, record keeping and logs are an on going part of our everyday lives. Learning to keep those records did not come easily. All good things take time. It took practice and the ability to persevere while establishing the habit of record keeping.

Distractions made their appearances THEN and they pay frequent visits NOW. The difference between then and now is that I recognize them (distractions), for what they really are! They are an opportunity for growth! YES, GROWTH! Back when I began to learn to keep records for our homeschool, I would get very flustered and thrown off course. Take for example the time our hot water heater suddenly decided to quit working leaving us with cold water to bath in for a few days -or- when the car malfunctioned. I suppose you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Well Cathy, you have a husband who probably took care of those issues. How did that affect or distract you?” It DID! It was something else to worry about and gnaw over in the back of my mind! Despite those interruptions and my lack of knowing how to deal with them, the task of learning to keep records still got done. Probably because homeschooling WAS and still IS VERY important to me.

I want to tie the above together with an illustration of how this applies in my life today. Long after learning to keep records, there have been many, MANY times that the Lord has laid it upon my heart to start a new habit or begin a new practice that would further His will in my life. Often times I WOULD press on and stay in His will for those areas of growth to take root BUT there have ALSO been too many times I’ve just dropped the ball and thought that the task He laid upon me was unimportant or too menial to spend the time or effort on after the arrival of (drum roll please), MR. DiStrActIoN, his friends and family! Thinking back I could see a fruit or (pattern) if you will, that had developed in me over time. I learned to better deal with Mr. D. I learned to keep my focus on Jesus. I began to see that if I viewed Mr. Distraction as an opportunity to learn in the midst of grounding a new habit in my life, the interruptions would become second-place and a more Christ-like character would again begin to shine forth!

I had always viewed daily To-Do lists as somewhat unimportant to spend too much time working on. I kept what I though were pretty good mental notes of those things that I hoped to accomplish around the house on a daily basis right inside my little ole brain! Unless of course we were leaving town for a few days. To-Do lists came in very handy then. But again the Lord has been instructing me in the importance to establishing a daily To-Do list. I’ve been keeping one as of late and I feel I’ve been given wings to fly! When Mr. D came back around, I ALMOST set aside keeping up with my new Daily To-Do list. But I’m hooked. I’m pressing on and forging ahead. I wonder what distractions tomorrow will bring? It doesn’t bother me though, they are a part of life and they provide a new opportunity to learn and grow if we choose to look at it from this perspective. Please don’t mistake me here. I don’t make a habit of calling Mr. D or any of his family inviting them over for tea, no sir! But I do know that I will welcome what my Heavenly Father in His infinite Wisdom, (compared to my finite), sees fit to allow into my life in the form of a distraction. Sometimes Mr. D only pops his head in the door and then leaves when he sees that I pay him no attention!!!

We are clay in the Masters Hand. He has MANY tools that He uses at His disposal to mold and shape us into the likeness of His Son Jesus Christ. It should be viewed as a privilege for us to keep pressing on! We’ve been given another day, another breath, another chance to make a difference!

In His Love, Cathy

Philippians 3:12-16 (NIV)
Pressing on Toward the Goal

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

 

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