Testing

I am a klutz.  Dropping, spilling, tripping, that's my day. And it drives me crazy!!

Today was no exception...and I have only been up 1/2 an hour.  I decided I would dust mop the floors while I was waiting for the coffee to finish brewing (I'm even clumsier before my coffee as my brain doesn't completely operate until I wake it up with that first cup!!)  And so ensued my first trip of the day.  I went outside to shake out the mop, and as I headed back in I caught the mop handle in the door, tripped up the step coming in and knocked the duster part off the mop! Yaaay me!

But this time I saw it for what it was....a test.  Yesterday's devotional reading talked about focusing on Jesus instead of problems.  Okay, nothing new there...we all have heard that and we all try to apply it with varying degrees of success.  It instructed me to train my mind to seek Jesus in every moment and   situation.  And that was kind of the key there...EVERY.  I had not really been applying it to the small seemingly endless irritations that plague each of our days.  And being a somewhat klutzy person....well lets just say that irritation level can run a bit high. I usually find myself saying things like,  "God can I just ever get through a day without spilling...."  "Why can't it ever be easy to just....." about 40 times a day!!!

So as I was tripping into the house dust mop in hand (sort of), in came the thought from God....."focus on Me."  What?!?!  You mean that practice of focusing on Jesus, giving our trials and tribulations, our worries and problems is not just for the big stuff?  You want me to do it with the common annoyances that come up a million times a day?  Take my mind off them and put them onto You Lord?  What a radical concept for me!!  I'm wondering how many times He's tried to get me to hear this message before, and me being me, it hadn't sunk in.

The Bible says in Song of Songs 2:15 Quick! Catch all the little foxes before they ruin the vineyard of your love, for the grapevines are all in blossom.  It's the little foxes that spoil the vine.  The little thoughts, the little aggravations of each day that can cause bitterness and annoyance to ruin our relationship with Christ. As I focus on getting annoyed over some little trip up or spill, I get into the blame game with God, and it just deteriorates from there.  My mood changes, my thoughts toward God become negative. As does my attitude and I find myself becoming increasingly angry and impatient and I show it.  There goes my witness!!  And all because I allow the little things to build up and become bigger in my mind than Christ.

Something the Lord told me recently..."Your complaining about a certain spill or clean up takes more time than actually just dealing with it up!"  And yet I let those kinds of things take up space in my head.

So this morning, as I fell into the house, that thought from God, that little visit in a second of time, and I knew that these minor complications to my day were something He wanted me to focus away from and bring my mind back to Him.

2 Corinthians 10:5  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.  

Lord, help me to train my mind in this,  Help me to bring EVERY thought, EVERY situation, small or big, EVERY moment of my day into focus on You and Your purposes. I don't really know what this looks like, walked out in the everyday, but I trust You to show me.  Thank You.