A Chosen Course

If our principal treasure be as we profess, in things spiritual and heavenly, and woe unto us if it be not so! on them will our affections, and consequently our desires and thoughts, be principally fixed.  -John Owen

Perhaps you may have noticed it's been a month since the last post here.  I, on occasion, have read blogs where the writer returns after days, weeks or months and apologizes for an absence.  While I (somewhat surprisingly) have missed the once daily writings myself, I make no apology.  

The new year always seems a time to refocus, to realign and to reset.  

Time has been taken here for just that.  The Advent and Christmas seasons have passed and the decorations are put away.  The house has been cleaned and a new semester of homeschool has begun.  

It seems often that we run along fulfilling our many roles and responsibilities and don't often evaluate where our time is being spent.  I often say that our time spent reflects our priorities.  Clearly, the computer (and this blog), while both things I enjoy, do not top my list.  They are not responsibilities I am tied to, or need to be burdened by.  

With three children to train (all of them boys - in January in New England mind you!  Oh how thankful we are for a mild winter!), a husband with a full and busy work schedule, a toddler having just switched from two naps to one, and two school age boys to teach, there is often simply not enough time in the day to accomplish all I hope to accomplish.  There is, however, enough time to do that which is in God's will that i do.

There are times when this machine is not meant to be used.  It's OK for it to sit idle for a while.  Aren't there many things in life like that - that start out as hobbies or things we enjoy that become burdensome as we increasingly feel tied.

I like the analogy of the rodent in the wheel.  Many folks spin their wheels as the hamster does, running without a finish line in sight, going nowhere.  Unlike the rodent, we have goals and a vision.  We know where we're going.  The challenge is to get there without getting sidetracked by the lure of the wheel.  Sometimes it looks fun, and sometimes we jump on enjoying the novelty for a time, only to be reminded of why we want to jump off... before the force of the endless motion consumes us.  

Our prayer beginning this year is that we will grow as we did in 2011.  While I must admit that I consistently add my own silent prayer, "...but Lord, it's gotta be easier than last year!", I know that our greatest times of growth have been in the greatest times of trial.  Should He choose to lead us through the flames yet again this year, we will follow.  I'm not waiting in line for that, as my mother would say, but if that's the direction the Lord leads we are, somewhat reluctantly if I'm being honest, willing.

Is your prayer for 2012 to be in His will?  Is your plan His plan?  Is He your focus?  Do your activities allow you to meditate on His word, to reflect on His work and seek His will, or do they - will they- leave you spinning on the wheel?  

“The will of God is not something you add to your life. It’s a course you choose. You either line yourself up with the Son of God…or you capitulate to the principle which governs the rest of the world.” - Elisabeth Elliot