Friday, February 10, 2012

The Race - Meyer

“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” Acts 20:24 NIV

“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14 NIV

I’m in a race, rushing towards…. deadlines for manuscripts, deadlines for cover art approval, deadlines for submission of course outlines, deadlines for marking student work, deadlines for a blog entry.

I feel as if I am running fast and can’t slow down for… a phone call to a friend, a walk with my husband, a chat with my granddaughter, house cleaning, sleep.

Breaking my arm a couple months ago is partly the reason I am behind on things and in such a rush now. But I fear the real cause is a lifestyle of trying to cram in as much as possible into each minute of every day. A chronic case of workaholic-ism.

Life is a race complete with a prize (see scripture quotes above) but I KNOW there is a balance here that I often lack. There are other Bible verses:

"He says, 'Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.'" Psalm 46:10 NIV

"This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: 'In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.'" Isaiah 30:15 NIV

And we have written down for us in the Gospel accounts the story of Mary and Martha. Martha was busy, busy, busy… But Mary chose the better way.

So, I will now (in deep authoritative voice)“step away from the computer” and make a phone call to a friend, chat with my granddaughter, visit with my husband, sleep.

But I think I’ll still skip the housecleaning for now.

I wish you all a relaxing, restful, and absolutely joy-filled weekend!

Dorene Meyer
http://www.dorenemeyer.com/
http://www.goldrockpress.com/
Author of Missy to be released March 26: http://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/event-11168/Northern-Writers----Launch-of-Five-New-Books

2 comments:

Peter Black said...

Dorene,
Thank you for this frank and cheerful admission of your particular "...holism" which many of us have shared and continue to share.
I trust you are making good progress in your recovery from your arm break.
Enjoy those stepping-back moments. Confession: I've come to them much too late in life, but do thank God that I've been spared to take them from time to time.

CBM said...

So faithfully and beautifully written. May we all run the race well. Somehow, I know that God who is the author and finisher of our faith has it all worked out.

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