Not Like The Cartoon

Such is the generation of those who seek him…Psalm 24:6

I remember watching a cartoon when I was little that showed a queen lying on a lounge chair while one servant fed her grapes and another fanned her with a gigantic feather fan.  I was amazed that someone could have life so easy.  I think I would have been happy to have someone pick up my dirty socks and do my math homework at first but the longer I pondered that scene in my mind the more I felt overworked and underprivileged. Why was she so lucky I remembered thinking. I eventually reported the whole matter to my mom and the conversation was met with hilarious laughter on her part.  Her closing words were “Sweetie, anything worth having is worth working for and if someone does everything for you the only thing you have left to do is complain.”  Those words made no sense to me at all until I actually learned what it meant to work hard for something.

I remembered that whole scenario as I read a prayer the other day.  The words that washed it all back over me were these, “May we always seek You with diligent love and find you in daily service and sincere faith.”  We all want to grow in our relationship with Christ but sometimes it doesn’t go much farther than wanting.  I’m guilty of being that queen on the couch expecting God to come to me and give me faith.  I want him to feed me and entertain me and care for me all while I perch myself comfortably on my hind parts.  The words of this prayer mixed with the words of my smart momma and I had to stop and look at my walk with Jesus.  

If you look carefully at the words of that tiny prayer you  can see it’s full of verbs.  It calls us to action and says we need to seek to love to find and to serve.  I don’t suppose I can do all that sitting on the lounge chair eating grapes.  This power packed sentence also offers a pretty simple action plan for the day.  I can spend time seeking him in the face of others and when I find him there I can offer my love in the form of a kind word or a helpful deed.  I can spend time each day seeking him in Scripture and he will speak to me through his word.  The prayer clearly states daily so weekly or monthly just isn’t gonna cut it!  It says that I’ll find him as I serve and I’ll find him when I believe in him.  If I remember to have faith in him I’ll find him.  It’s not like a game of hide and seek where he stashes himself in impossible places, he’s right there if I believe and trust.  Seriously, the God who created the Universe,  parted the Red Sea, brought forth water from a rock and sent his son as a beautiful baby boy can absolutely handle a sick loved one, a lost phone, a long to do list or anything else we’ve got going on. The word sincere reminds me that I can't just "say" I believe, I actually have to "live" like I believe which means knowing and not just hoping.

It’s a brand new year; the perfect time to look at our discipleship and decide if we need to act a little less like the queen in the cartoon.  God doesn’t care how many pounds we loose, how many times we work out or how organized we keep our closets in 2017, he just wants us to love him more and make more room in our heart for him so he can put his perfect plan in action.

A Seed To Plant: Write down that short prayer and put it somewhere you’ll see it often.  Let it be a guiding sentence as you begin this new year.

Blessings on your day!