Stop

I sat yesterday for a few minutes in solitude, praying for different burdens my friends carry. The more I stared at the pecan tree I was near, the more I realized how interconnected nature is. There were birds of different types. I also witnessed a few squirrels eating some of the budding pecans for next season. And I was enjoying the shade as well. It’s fascinating to me that God would make a tree not just for me, but for all the other animal life that is using it today. That same tree has brought pecans, and similar blessings to people before me on the same property. It’s really quite manifold when you think about it. 

We move in too fast of a pace today. Things are screaming by us, and we are screaming by things. Worse, the lightning speed that we are taking this life, also means we are flying right past people. People whom God loves, and is given His life for. These same people are eternal souls, hanging in the balance of eternal destiny, one way or another. How can you slow down? How can you redeem the time necessary that is so fleeting? 

First, I believe we need to agree with God on a few key factors. These are definitely not the norm of thought today. For the purposes of this article, let’s start with sleep. Sleep is the most sought after item in American culture. You have to have the right kind of bed, mood, lighting, sound, and meds to make it work. After visiting other cultures, which sleep on cots, in hammocks, and on a bed roll on the ground, I have discovered that sleep can be overrated. These people are productive, happy, and down right grateful. Every commercial seems to indicate you need more sleep and quality sleep, to the excess if possible. Yet the scripture only speaks of sleep either in a negative lazy connotation, or in a peaceful mind kind-of-way. David mentions both of these and so does his son Solomon in Psalms and Proverbs, respectfully. We are told that without adequate sleep we gain weight, lose hair, get divorced, and develop anti-social skills. Most of those happen either way, don’t they? Who’s pushing this narrative anyway? Isn’t Satan the ‘god of this world’ and ‘prince of the power of the air’? Do you think we could be duped into not following the real reason we are here? Of course we can. Don’t get me wrong, I love sleep. But, I love listening to God more. The last thing I do at night is talk to the Lord, about literally everything. I fall asleep talking to the One I love the most. At 3am this morning I was out for the count when my blood hound started hooting and hollering in the back yard. It is a unique sound if you’ve ever heard one howl. He has different howls. This one in particular was ‘alert’, something was up. I got out of bed, strolled by every window I could get to, to see what he was barking at. After a while I finally realized he was howling at nothing. I found some cold water and headed back to bed. In that moment I was hit with a wave of fear that something could be wrong. This particular thing was an attack, because 2 Timothy 1.7 says that God has not given us that spirit. I was drawn by God’s Spirit in me to pray immediately for our family, and peace. That began an hour of prayer I desperately needed. I believe that God woke me up, through my loud hound, so that He could speak to me. I came under spiritual attack in the process, but God is over that too. I woke up the same, maybe I lost a little sleep, but it was worth it. The very thing that flashed in fear, is the very thing that God gave me truth about. The verse He brought to my mind was Luke 12.15 which states: “And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” I realized that I put too much time and attention on the things, rather than the people. If I lost everything tomorrow, it shouldn’t effect my joy. It is just stuff. My life consists in more than food and clothing and even sleep. My sleep was interrupted (which is a major problem according to the commercials on fox news this morning), but I’m happier for it. I needed to be confronted by God and repent again. 

It’s really hard to redeem time that is flying by. One way to make it work is simply… make more time. Get up earlier or later and take some more time with God. Don’t pack out your day off, and actually spend time with your family. Invite some folks over and spend some quality time with them. Take a walk with your kids or grandkids and talk with them, not at them. Satan is effective. He has convinced most believers that selfishness is in some way a godly thing. It is not. It is anti-christ. Focusing on your own needs all the time and your comfort zones, is not the will of God. We have to make the most of the fleeting time we have left on this rock. Make the most of it, by investing it in eternity rather than self. Rebel a little against that human urge in you for self. Stop and stare at a pecan tree, and just see how God even takes care of the birds and you.