It’s snowing. In Texas. No, for real…SNOW. And the heater is broken in my house. For 3 days now…the 3 coldest days in Texas this winter. Murphy’s Law. Personal space heater you say? YES! Except for when our electricity was knocked out yesterday….hilarious really. No heat. No hot water. Stinky and cold.
I’m living in a 1st-world country feeling incredibly grateful for 3rd world luxuries: electricity and water.
It’s the little things..which are really not so little.
The Little Things Sidelined
I sometimes think this is true in my spiritual life…I’m just coasting along, enjoying time with the Lord…then the days get crazy busy. And in the crazy busyness, I wake up a little later than normal. And then my quiet time is shortened to reading a little devotional I keep on hand for just these moments…but while my eyes may be reading, my heart is a million miles away…making lists of all the things I need to do that day, reliving conversations, dreaming of a future event…in that place, that place of complacency.
Slowly but surely then, the basics of my life as a Christ-follower become fuzzy and peripheral…these “little things” which are not so little, are sidelined in my heart.
Delighting in God,
Being His kid,
Receiving His Love,
and living in this world as an expression of my love to Him.
My flesh and satan do a pretty stand-up job teaming up on the Spirit living in me. And when I say team, I mean team…my flesh is pretty quick to make choices that dull feelings…just as satan is as quick to make these suggestions oh-so-persausively. He has a gilded tongue that serpent!
But that ugly duo’s problem is, Jesus. He stompled the serpent in the garden and vanquished my flesh on an crude wooden beam, as The Father wept.
And now? He woos. Constantly. Calling me back to Himself…calling me deeper into His Story, deeper into this lovely place of knowing and being known by Him Whom I Was Created To Know. With Him I am more “annetta” than at any other time.
So, while the battle is sometimes lost, with a complacent, world-weary decision that lifts up the enemy, I KNOW that the WAR iS WON in the end. The end of the story has already been written.
Making The Little Things, Big Things
Yesterday, I picked up a copy of a new worship cd…our friends at The Oaks in Red Oak, TX just came out with this gorgeous, faith-lifting music that woo’s your heart to things of The Lord. We first came upon The Oaks Worship stuff when we did an Awaken event with them last year…and we are BEYOND EXCITED to team up with them again (May 23rd!) for another Awaken. So it was pretty natural for our team to scoop up a copy of their latest stuff…what wasn’t natural was the way we kept it playing on repeat ever since it was purchased. It has become the soundtrack for the GB offices. Hilarious really. 24 hours later and I am singing it all, word-for-word.
And, something beautiful happened…a few listens in, and the “battle” I was fighting just became little easier. I was reminded again and again of the basics, the “water and electricity” if you will, of walking with Him. Even the title track “War in the Waiting” renewed my perspective on this place we all inhabit:
In the end, the little things are the big things.
So this morning, I am grateful for electricity (it was fixed!) and water. I am grateful for The Hero of my Heart, Jesus. I am grateful for The Oaks Worship (Yay Clayton, Candis and Ross!) melodies that woo my heart to a place of victory in this battle…reminding me, the great war was already won!
I’m grateful for the little things, which turn out to be not-so-little.
What reminds YOU that the little things are the big things?
You are loved!
annetta
