Making Time To Be With God

These past couple of weeks I have been planning a retreat and a set apart day for different churches. I have found it frustrating to put the work into something only to have someone make up an excuse not to participate.  One of the saddest excuses I heard was over the weather.  Prior to the these events, the weather had been really rainy, so this individual was behind on her gardening...only to find out on Facebook that her day she said she planned on catching up on her gardening was used for going out to garage sales. Instead of choosing to spend the day set apart with her church family and having some quiet time with God, she came up with an excuse she did not even follow through with.  Do not get me wrong some excuses are very valid, but having to wash your hair that day or this need to go to some garage sales is not one of them.

Deep down I think excuses may stem from the fear of being away or maybe having to spend time communicating with God. Often, when we spend time with God we find soothing words we need to hear, but there are times when God might speak to us about things we need to change. Change can be hard, especially hearing God wanting us to give up something. There is this special jewel of a place I have found to go for quiet times with God. A couple runs this "heavenly haven" and over my many times there I have heard beautiful stories of God speaking to the couple and directing them. There is one story the woman tells that beautifully illustrates my point.

 

One morning she woke up with a feeling she could paint. She asked her husband if she could buy some paints and try. She began, and her third painting was of Martin Luther nailing the 95 thesis to the door of the Catholic Church. If you saw the picture you would never believe she had not had any lessons and that she had just picked up painting because she sensed God telling her she could paint. Well, one day she sensed God saying that she should stop painting. The world told her she was crazy to do so when she could paint so well. She did what God asked and gave up painting. Did she enjoy painting? Yes, but God had another plan in store for her. A couple of years later she sensed God telling her to paint again, but this time her canvas was to be the lives of people. She does so now and it is beautiful.

 

What I love about this story is nothing was wrong with her painting, but she yielded her life to God and not the world.  Life/the world will continue to give us excuses to keep doing what we are doing. God, on the other hand, may call us to be different. 1 Thessalonians 5:5-8 states, “For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation” As Christians we are called to walk differently- to walk in the light instead of darkness. In the light we can see things and know God does not call us to stop something or to do something for no rhyme or reason. We may not see the purpose right away, but we have trust in God. What church retreats or days set apart offer is the chance to get away and hear God.  

 

The world does not let us be silent to hear God speak to us. We have to carve out time to find the quiet. My sister with two kids has to find those still moment here or there. She does not have the chunk of time I do, but she finds some time to meet with God. Nonetheless, I see how nice it is for her to have some time set apart away from the kids to hear from God. I plan the retreat to offer respite from life/ the world. God clears His schedule to meet with you, but do you clear yours to meet Him? Perhaps you do, but do not discount a retreat or a set apart day. God, at least for me, completes my human agenda especially when I spend my time with Him. It is either that my worries and laundry list diminish or God helps take care of my time needed to get done what needs to be completed.

 

I do want to see women of the church realign their priorities back to the church being more important in life. Yet, there is a fine line. Missing a soccer game means missing out on being there for your kids. Coming on a retreat means missing out on a weekend trip with your husband to celebrate his birthday. Sacrifices are made.

 

There is no real answer to this.  I do not know how to avoid having to sacrifice stuff. What I do know is God sacrificed a lot for us. He invested all He had in us. First, He gave us His Son as the sacrificial lamb so we could have eternal life. Second, He gave us His Holy Spirit to be our Counselor and empowerment. Surely, we can sacrifice one day in our garden or a day out at garage sales to meet with God and spend time with others from the church. Iron does after all sharpen iron. Do not let your excuses the world gives you outweigh spending time with God.