So..I admit totally that my thoughts the past few days have been pretty jumbled up from a week of Ranger's baseball and goodtimes in the backyard here at home in the evenings. Those goodtimes and t.v. time have made me realize that we are not studying enough here and so we have set goals for next week to flip more flashcards and read more books. To add to my sense of confusion, I work in the public school system and this seems to pile on the stress. I love the kids, but the demands of the TEST are more and more. Even if we try really hard to keep life simple and as stress-free as possible, LIFE does seem to creep on us and several times this week I have found myself rubbing my own neck to work out the tension that seems to set up shop there.
When I clear my head though, my thought go back to a day last week at the Waco zoo. I stood back and watched a group of first graders do something that I instantly filed in my mind to write about later. We were all making our way through the Waco Zoo at a leisuraly pace. I had 2 girls to watch and compared to the group of 4 boys I had last year, and it was a breeze! What a JOY. I was taking it all in until right past the giraffes . We rounded a corner and every kid in sight took off running to the fence to look at something that must have been quite spectacular. They all lined up on their tippy toes with faces pointed in the same direction. All I could see was the back of gray Eagle class t-shirts.
The children were so excited! Just from watching them all gathered in a little bunch, I was excited too! I eased on up behind them, at a faster pace than before, and looked at what amazing sight must have been waiting on me. I looked and looked. I looked and looked both ways, up and down, knowing some of these creatures can hide. After one final glance, I knew that there was nothing to see in this exhibit. The kids all realized that too right about the same time. We all rushed, ran, and lined up in a crowded group on the fence to see......NOTHING at all! The crowd was a bit down at that point and there were several red cheeked first graders with looks of disappointment. We had all been fooled by the first "Curious George" who headed that way with a look of enthusiam. We all were followers in a mad dash to follow the first kid who looked like he or she really knew what was going on.
My thought was...how often do we run to see what the group is looking at or doing, when there is really nothing at all worth a flip for us to see. We can get totally off of OUR path. We can ruin the plans we have made and become sidetracked when we follow the crowd. We end up loosing our focus for the day, or for the moment, when we think there is something bigger and better up the road.
Is anybody with me here or am I the only one who does this? I can be a leader, but I can also be pretty quick to follow. The truth is our walk here on this earth is so personal. You only have to look at a group of people for a minute to see how different we all really are. A glance at my own family and our unique personalities blows me away and reminds me that God, our Creator, really does create us all as individuals with individual plans for us. That is why it does not work when we follow others. We were created for OUR purpose and when we are on the right path to fulfill what the Lord intended for us, the path will not resemble any other path around us. We can't just run, follow, and look at what someone else is doing to get ourselves on the right track.
So, yeah right? Staying on the right track seems really good and clear vision for our goals would get us all an "A" but how do we do it? A song that I listened to this week on my I-Pod helped me see how I can live the life that I was created to live. "Precious Lord Take My Hand/Just a Closer Walk with Thee" was my answer from Selah. I need a closer walk with the Lord. That is the bottom line. No matter our age or stage of faith, we can have a closer walk with the Lord and should strive to do just that. We can wake up in the morning and begin our conversation with Him and never stop conversing all day long. That is a closer walk. It works both ways. How nice a sweet walk with us must be to our Father. That thought blows my mind, that He does want to walk and talk with me.
The title of the song is Precious Lord, Take my Hand/ Just a Closer Walk with Thee. It starts with
"Precious Lord,
take my hand,
lead me on
help me stand,
I am tired,
I am weak,
I am worn.
Through the storm,
through the night,
lead me on to your light.
Take my hand,
Precious Lord,
and lead me home."
The chorus concludes with "daily walking close to thee."
How close is your walk with Jesus?
It is not too late to start or too late to slow down and get back into step with Him.
This week what will I choose:
A: To slow down and take a nice and peaceful walk with the Lord through my daily activities.
B: To let the world pull me in many different directions and end up running around like a chicken with my head cut off?
With the help of the Lord, I choose A. (Not a perfect week I am sure, but a closer walk with Thee.)
What will you choose?
