Today God woke me up. I keep saying I want to have a quality quiet time, but don't have the time or energy to do it well so it consistently gets put off, and this week at our MOPS steering meeting one of the mentors said that if I was choosing to not do it when I had time to do other things like watching TV, being on the computer . . . then maybe it wasn't the business of life that was keeping me from a quiet time, it was a sin issue. WOW! Light bulb moment. A sin issue, but I am a mom, I am too busy for sin. RIGHT!! Today God gave me the chance again. I woke up just before 5:30 and instead of flipping on the TV to let the news lull me back to sleep, I got up. I chose to have a quiet time, which meant that today I did have the time and I chose something over myself - GOD, I chose focused time with GOD. What a radical concept, I know.
Let everything you say be good and helpful so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. Ephesians 4:29
This was nearly the first thing I read and what I needed to hear. This verse is a verse I have read and heard, memorized and recited, but today it was all new.
Is everything I say good and helpful? Are my words encouraging? I think that I am good with words. I rarely am at a loss of what to say and even can be eloquent. I love finding the right word for the right moment. But EVERYTHING. Really. Even at home. I look at how I interact with my family and am convicted that maybe it is when I have my "public" face and my "church" hat on that I live this verse. Or give it a good attempt. If it is not who I am always, am I faking it? How many times do I just tell my family what I want and expect and never think about my words being good and helpful and being an encouragement.
Convicting to this mom, who can be short tempered and short sighted.
So devotion is doing what it needs to do in my life, convicting me, asking me to make better choices, and recognizing that there is One who does this in my life. God is using this verse to make me a better mom, today. Tomorrow I will start all over, but hope that I can continue to be aware of the power of words.
Wow, who knew that I could feel awake at 7:30 and be ready to start my day.
