“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. Psalm 1:1 – 3
My husband and I are taking a “staycation” this week. We have several projects that need our attention and the weekend just isn’t long enough to complete them. So, while he is retired, I am taking some time off so we can work together and (hopefully) accomplish at least one of these projects. I will let you know if we are successful in our endeavors. Sometimes our good intentions get high-jacked. Which is why we have these projects that are not getting done. Something else comes up that needs our attention more.
And isn’t that just the way life works. Something is always getting in the way of what we want to accomplish and we get side-tracked into doing that something else instead of what we have on our “to do” lists. The reasons for getting side-tracked are many. We could be procrastinating about doing what we really don’t want to do. We could genuinely have an emergency that needs our attention. We could be enticed by something a lot more fun or interesting. But again, the reasons are legion. For my husband and me, we are taking some time away from all our other activities and intentionally focusing on at least one of those projects that a weekend just isn’t long enough in order to accomplish.
Projects are not the only thing to get side-tracked in our life. We get side-tracked with our faith too. We are doing everything we should as we work to dive deeper into our relationship with Jesus and then…well we are like Peter who took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink into the water. We get side-tracked and sink into the morass of emotions and media messages or other enticements that take our eyes off Jesus and replace his life affirming message about who we are with messages that tell us we will never measure up, we will never accomplish what we have set out to do, we are too fat, too skinny, too tall, too short, too something. Staying laser focused on Jesus and who Jesus says we are…that keeps us from sinking into messages that tell us we will never be good enough. Especially when the God of all creation said we are not just good enough but very good. And who are we to argue with God about the value God has placed on each one of us? Certainly not me.
The Psalmist says that we are not to walk in step with the wicked…we will accomplish nothing important when we do. We will just waste the precious time we have been given in this life. So, for this week, I plan to walk in step with Jesus as I work to stay laser focused on the project we plan to accomplish. But work is not all there is to life…
We are also planning at least one fun day. I mean seriously…you can’t take time off from work to just work. We need to have some time to rest and relax. That is also important. What is the old saying? “All work and no play makes Jill/Joe a dull girl/boy?
So this week we are staycationing. We are going to get a project done. (I hope) We are going to spend our time together…always good. And we are going to do something fun, I just have no idea at the moment what that will be.
Peace,
Pastor Beth
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