Anyone here need to live "freely and lightly"? Or is it just me? There are some days that this kind of life seems so far away from my life it's a joke. When thinking about my days I have plenty of reasons why they are not "free" or "light" - I mean how could they be I am just so busy. Can't you see Jesus - I have three children, I homeschool, I am pregnant, I need to cook, clean, shop, plan ...blah, blah, blah! Okay...hold on! Am I really saying that Jesus was less busy than I am??? Oh...better stop right there! I guess Jesus can take the prize for busy! So how did He do it? When I read my bible I see that Jesus has promised to teach me how to live this life and to live it daily. So how? That's what I wanted to know - I'm all about the how (and that may be part of my problem, but that's for another time!) Well, if we look in this passage Jesus tells us to "watch how I do it". So I did. I took a few days out to really examine how He lived His life and what He actually did - I figured I could learn a few things...
First things first: Jesus did nothing apart from His Father (see John 5:19)...What does that mean? He took time in prayer every single morning and communed with God. I'm sure that He didn't get up and jump immediately into everything He had to do without relaxing and taking time to talk about the day with God. I'm also sure that He didn't pray some religious pat prayer and say, 'There! I'm done with my prayer for the day, I got that out of the way!'.
Jesus spent quality time with His father, time to chat and be Himself. I think that is all He wants us to do. Not to feel that this is just something a good Christian woman has to do everyday; that because the Proverbs 31 woman got up early and prayed it's something I have to do every morning or I am a failure. Jesus wants us to come to Him in the morning to take a few minutes and just be with Him. He wants us to want to spend time with Him to desire that special time each morning, not to have it as #1 on a long list of things to do each morning. Adding Jesus to your list each day won't make your day light or easy...
Jesus also did not limit time with His father to the early morning hours and leave it at that. Jesus went to God whenever He felt He needed to. I notice that He especially spent time in prayer after particularly busy times in His day (you know...feeding 5,00...healing crowds of people etc, etc!) There was a reason He did that...He needed to be refueled and take a moment for himself. I know there are many times in each day I could use a refueling. How about you?
The result of Jesus spending time throughout the day talking to His father was that He was able to know what was important and He was able to let go of all that was unnecessary in His day. he didn't pressure Himself to do what others expected Him to do. If I really took all that I feel I need to do in my day to God, how many of those things would make it onto God's list of things He feels are important for me to do. All those expectations I place upon myself - are they from God? I'm not so sure...I'm not sure God is really upset with me if my house is not quite perfectly clean. I'm not sure God wants me to forgo fun with the kids because we must do all the workbooks we had planned for the day. And I'm not sure God really wants me to worry so much about how much damage I must be doing to my kids as their teacher!
Jesus had plenty of outside pressure telling Him what they thought He should be doing, but He was able to stay focused on what was truly important because He was in rhythm with what God wanted. I don't think I 'm quite as rhythmical!
Jesus was not all about work you know! He was busy I give you that,but He also knew how to enjoy life! Oh! that sounded sacreligious didn't it! But look into it! Jesus enjoyed His closest friends, He spent time eating meals with people and just relaxing too. I think that was how He was able to minister to such a large variety of people from professionals to s - he was REAL! He was fun and relaxed and didn't make people feel that they weren't worth His time. Jesus really got up the Pharisee's noses with this! Am I able to really relax and have fun? Do I turn my husband and children away from me when I am all about the work, work, work? I think Jesus was onto something here!
What did Jesus do when His plans for the day went astray? He just flowed with it. He seemed to have a sense of what was truly important for His day and if that was something that was not in His plan then so be it. Take the woman with the issue of for example (Matt 9:20). Jesus could have easily told her to come back later as He was on a schedule and couldn't be late, but He didn't. He stopped what He was doing and went with it. This is what I think Jesus meant when he spoke of unforced rhythms. How many of life's interruptions are put there by God Himself who wants us to take time out of what we have planned and go with what He has planned?
So what will my life look like if I take Jesus up on His offer to help me in my day. What do the unforced rhythms of grace look like?
Here's what I think...I think my prayer life will not be on my list of things to do. I will seek time with Jesus whenever I need it and nurture a relationship not a religion. I will seek to enjoy the life I have now! I will enjoy my children, my husband, my friends and family today. I will not focus on my checklist! I will learn to go with the flow when God interrupts my day and not fight against it because my plan is so important. I will respond now when I hear that still, small voice in my head and not put it off for a better time. If God tells me to do something I will! I will stop worrying about all the things I should be doing and am not. I will lay down my plans and keep company with Jesus!
