On the Track...

"As long as you are breathing it is not too late to do something good."  -Maya Angelou

A friend called me yesterday to tell me she is retiring. She just turned 60 and feels like time is marching on and she needs to re-define her identity. She wants something else to define her at this stage of her life. She isn't sure what this will look like, but knows without a shadow of a doubt she wants these years to be about more than a weekly paycheck.

I think so often in this season of life some of my friends and I are in we realize that it is more  about the legacy we will leave behind one day. I know for me, I love what I get to do each day in God's minsitry at the Pregnancy Center and I believe in this season of my life it is God ordained. I feel that He is using this part of my life to show me that living with eternal purpose is of utmost importance. 

I spent part of the day yesterday shopping with my daughter. She wanted to re-decorate some rooms in her home and asked me to come along to help her. I love spending time with my adult children and was thankful to have these few hours together. Something she said to me in a conversation really stuck with me...she was talking about a friend who had told her that he believed in God, but wasn't religious like his brother who posts Scripture on his FB page and goes to church weekly.

I wish that people understood it isn't about being religious...it is about having a personal relationship with the God who created us, loves us and wants to be included in our everyday, ordinary living. It is about a relationship that should be ongoing and personal and should help point others always to Him. 

So ofetn in life I hear people say, "I believe in God, but yet they really have not ime to worship Him. Does He have a place in their lives or is He like the genie in the bottle, when times are tough He is called upon and expected to produce a miracle? I read this passage the other day in the Message Bible: "I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed. I remember it all- oh, how well I remember., and remembering I keep a grip on hope: God's loyal love couldn't run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning. How great i your faithfulness! I'm sticking with God ( i say it over and over). He's all I've got left." Lamentations3: 19-24

There are 7 days in our week, twenty four hours in our day and when we see His hand on our lives...see His hand on our children and grandchildren's lives, how can we not take time to worhsip Him for all He has done and continues to do? It is not just important to say we believe in God, He desires for us to be in a relationship with us and wants more than an occasional acknowledgement...He deserves better than our leftovers!

One of the most difficult things for me in this season of life has been learning to say no...no, to the things which I don't need to do. I want to live my life living fully in the moments God blesses me with and daily surrendering my agenda, my plans, my expectations to Him. There are times when I still get off track, but daily it gets easier not to stray from the path He sets before me.  I remember the days when I would just be consumed with busyness and missed out on so many important things and am thankful that I have learned to slow down and enjoy the peacefulness of moments that God blesses me with.

My friend is now 2 weeks away from retirement and has a blank canvas for God to paint. She would like to at some point volunteer, but not sure where she could use her talents. As we ended the conversation I left her with this: "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger will meet." - a quote by Frederick Buechner. And He will equip you for whatever it is that He calls you to." I am living proof of that daily as I trust Him.

 

Comments

[Bob]

Cindie, you are so right on. God never leaves us not forsakes us. Love and hugs