Friday, August 31, 2012

Live For the Lord Like Your Life Depends On It!

Live for the Lord like your life depends on it....because it does!  Ever thought of it that way before?  It just dawned on me recently.  Lately, I have been living my life on hold.  Waiting for all of the people and the things in my life to be perfect before I do anything.  Yeah, you could say I'll be on hold for a while if I keep living like that!  I don't know if I've ever really lived in the moment before.  I know that sounds strange, but I can't say for certain I have. 

I am a busy person, just like everyone else, I guess.  I have a husband and we have three young boys that I stay home with and home school.  I am also involved heavily in the local and national political scene.  I am concerned for my children's future as well as my own.  I don't know what to say beyond that.  I also love to work out at the gym and try to eat healthy as much as I can.  Oh, yeah, then there is the coffee addiction I seem to have.  I love coffee!  Ask any of my old Facebook buddies and they'll tell you, three o'clock was my regular 'coffee-thirty'.  I guess you could say my life and my sanity depends on it!

I do have a personal relationship with Jesus.  I came to know Christ in the summer of 1997.  My husband is actually the person who led me to Christ, which is amazing to me.  I love to tell the story of how God used my husband to lead me to the Lord.  My husband and I were engaged ten short days after the very first time we talked and we have been married for nearly fifteen years.  I am so fortunate to have found such a wonderful person to share my life with.  Just like any marriage, we have our ups and downs, our arguments and our make-ups, but I wouldn't trade it or him.  My life depends on him!

I felt really especially close to God when I first became a Christian and over the years I have fallen away from Him, just like anyone can, I guess.  I think that recently though, may mark the most dramatic and lengthy dry spell I've had in my faith ever.  I can't say for sure what started it, but I think I've finally come out on the other side, and I'm so grateful.  I can't say I've never had this kind of 'feeling' before, but I feel that it's different this time and that I really want to try harder to put my faith into action.  My life depends on it!

I think one of the things that really sort of 'woke me up' was a conversation I had with my eight year old son.  My mom is seventy-one years old and she and my son have a very close relationship.  She had some chest pains last week and she wanted to go to the hospital.  Nothing dangerous or 'heart-attack like', but she wanted to go and check it out.  After we had left the hospital and gotten ready for bed that night, he came to me and asked if she was going to be alright.  I told him, yes, she's fine, sweetie.  Why?  Are you worried about her?  He said yes, and tears started to flow.  I said are you concerned about her because it's her heart?  He nodded yes, still crying.  I assured him through hugs and love that everything was going to be fine; that she was going to be fine.  My life came full circle at that very moment.  There is something about being there for your kids in that way;comforting them about the health and wellness of a loved one and realizing at the same time that people don't live forever.  I should know because I lost my dad to a massive heart attack very suddenly one January afternoon in 1995.

Since that conversation, I feel like I have been able to enjoy my life, my kids and my family more.  I guess you could say it helped put things in perspective for me.  I have certainly become more engaged in my children's lives than I was before, if that's possible.  I take time to listen and hear their conversations and their ideas.  Oh, the ideas that come into their precious little heads!  I wouldn't miss those ideas for the world.  Not to mention the tickle times, the hugs and kisses, the boo boos, the tears, the bedtime prayers and bedtime story times.  Those things don't last forever and I don't want to find myself  looking back and realizing I missed out on those things.  Time and life are too precious.

So, please, take it from me.  Live your life for God because your life does depend on it!  You may not get another tomorrow!  Thanks be to God!

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