I hear people talking about the clarity that being ordered to stay home has given them. Most of the distractions and activities have been stripped away from our lives. We are left to determine what our real priorities SHOULD BE and reassess what they HAVE BEEN. Even if we have been running full speed ahead to serve God in any capacity that presented itself, did we leave time to be calm before the Lord? Did we immerse ourselves in his word? Was our time spent listening to the Lord or were we too busy listening to what WE chose our calling to be? I know God is going to use this time to strengthen us and draw us closer to him. In a manner that I have never witnessed before, the clutter of our busy lives has been wiped away. I hope that you are spending at least some of your time alone with God, really diving deep into what he would have you gain from this time. How will God use YOU in our world right now? Have you been listening for his answer?

This is an unprecedented time to peel back where your priorities HAVE BEEN and determine if that is where they SHOULD HAVE BEEN. We have been afforded the opportunity to see things from a calmer, clearer perspective because we are simply not allowed to engage in our normal activities. Don’t waste this opportunity that has fallen in our laps to pray about what GOD would have you do with your time, both now and when life returns to “normal”. Under regular circumstances, are you doing what he created you for or are you too distracted by the “blessings” of this world. Are you too blessed to be a blessing? Ouch. That stings a bit, but really think about it. In reality, this is what has happened in our culture. We have so much that we don’t really rely on God much of the time for anything and thus we don’t draw near to him to provide both physically and spiritually for our needs. This leads us to place our trust in ourselves, our things, and our activities. We don’t leave room for God. We then are not available for the opportunities he wanted to use our God given talents to impact. Thus, we miss the circumstances that could have grown us into something more amazing than we could have ever imagined! We missed the opportunity God set up for us to grow!

We are missing all that he has for us because we are too distracted to see it. I am guilty. I live to be productive; it is a big struggle for me to be still before the Lord. Several years ago, the Lord gave me a vivid picture of what I really looked like before the Lord and it was pathetic. It is a big reminder of how I don’t want to be, but often I still am. He gave me a picture of a child, about age 3, with a parent holding their hand and calmly trying to explain something. This child was trying to get their hand away from the parent and squirming all over the place, almost to the point of falling to the ground just to get away. The whole time, the child is loudly saying over and over again “Ok, I got it! I got it!”. Hopefully you can envision what this may look like, especially if you’ve raised toddlers. That was me! I didn’t have time to listen. I got the point God! I just wanted to move on and do what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to be still before the Lord and listen. That was a painful picture for me, but it could not have been more accurate. I still struggle with being still before the Lord, I have a hard time turning my busy brain off so I can listen. That picture snaps me right back to what I don’t want to look like before the Lord though. I WANT TO HAVE SPACE TO TRULY HEAR WHAT GOD HAS FOR ME. I am a work in progress. I think we all are until we go to be with the Lord, but hopefully we are growing into what he wants us to be and not just running in circles and never accomplishing anything for the Lord.

Therefore, on this day that the Lord has made where many of the activities have been taken away, what are you doing with that time? Are you filling it with NEW distractions? Are you finding more time to be still before the Lord and cry out to him what HE would have you do with this time? OR are you just running amuck in a new direction? I don’t think any of us are doing this perfectly, but are we at least doing it BETTER? It really is an absolutely unprecedented time to do a major reset in every area of our life. I hope that you will spend time in prayer, quiet before him, and really pray into what he would have you do with this time and what he would have you change as we figure out what our new “normal” may look like. Really ask yourself what have you been doing with the time in your life? Is it valuable? Will it matter in the end? I pray that you won’t look back and have regrets that you worked too much, watched too many sports or movies or were generally tuned out from what God had for you. You have been blessed with a massive reset, don’t waste it.

Psalms 46:10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;  I will be exalted among the nations,   I will be exalted in the earth.”