A Little Randomness and A Big Lesson

Am I the only one who wishes weekends lasted longer? This has been a short one. We went to our Sunday School Christmas party last night and had a blast (food, presents, karaoke - and yes I sang - look for me on YouTube or Sunday School Girls one Wild - okay that is an exaggeration, but close). We got home late and after we put the kids to sleep we layed in bed a laughed about things that happened at the party. I love my friends from church. We always have such a great time with them (although hubs and I can pretty much have a great time anywhere).

Both boys sang in church tonight. Lake, the oldest, sang very well and did exactly what he was supposed to. Kaden, on the other hand, didn't. When Kaden's choir practiced, he stood in front of the microphone and wouldn't keep his little hands off of it. He kept trying to get it out so he could hold it. When he finally stopped touching the mic, he realized that everyone was laughing at him so he got down on one knee and started to sing loudly - very, loudly, very very very loudly. When the practice time was over, I went to have a 'prayer meeting' with him and told him not to sing so loudly and not to try to take all the attention because we are supposed to give Jesus our attention (this coming from the woman who sang and danced unashamedly at the party the night before). So, when all 1,500 people are in the worship center and my kid gets on stage, he doesn't sing at all - he directs. He postitioned himself where he was facing the other kids and he moved his arms like he was their choir director. Not only did he direct - he bowed several times after each song. Where does he get this stuff ? (Okay I know where he gets it, but it is not good). Everyone laughed so it only encouraged him. He constantly cracks me up, but there are also times where he embarrases the heck out of me too.

So, Saturday morning I had to get up pretty early. I helped hubs with a few things before he left for work and then I grabbed my Bible and Bible study material and headed back to my comfy bed for some quiet time. I opened my Bible and the study book and just started reading without much thought to what I was doing - and without a prayer. Then, it was like the Lord was whispering in my ear, "You're hands aren't clean and your heart is not clean - you need clean hands and a clean heart if you expect to hear from Me." It wasn't an audible voice of course, but it might as well have been - it was strong and powerful - it was a command that I knew was from Him. You see, I had been helping hubby with a semi-dirty job and I had not taken the time to wash my hands before I picked up God's Holy Book and I also had not taken time to pray and ask for Him to reveal Himself to me. It's not that having germy hands is a sin, nor is it a sin to touch your Bible without washing your hands first. The sin comes when I approach God and His word with a flippant 'I need to hurry and get this out of the way' attitude. The germs aren't the problem, but the attitude is.

Sometimes I come to God in the mornings with so many 'to do's' rushing through my mind that I can't concentrate on Him or what He wants to tell me through His word. I am easily distracted and my attitude is completely wrong. I should enter my time of prayer and study with reverence - with clean hands and a clean heart. I believe that before God will give us a word He expects us to take care of the dirt in our lives. Before I begin my quiet time with Him, I need to do business with Him - which means I need to confess and ask forgiveness, but I also must get my attitude and heart prepared so that I can hear Him speak to me ---oh how I want to hear His voice. After all, spending time in the Word is spending time with God Himself (John 1:1). I have spent too many mornings treating my time with God as an obligation that has to be fulfilled instead of a priveledge. When we study the Bible, we are on Holy ground.....we are literally in the presence of God and we need to treat that time as such.