While putting the garbage out last night I noticed the glorious light of the 3/4 moon shining through the clouds. As I looked up, I thought about the vastness of the universe and how small I really am in the scheme of things. How insignificant my pain and sadness is in comparison to the pain of the world. That led me to think about how much pain God feels for us as He looks at each and every one of us - Christian and non-Christian.
My pastor shared with some friends and myself a few weeks back about how much suffering and pain God endures for us. God keeps track of our sorrows, collects our tears in a bottle and records each one in His book (Psalm 56:8). My pastor also went on to tell us how God lives in a timeless existence. He isn’t confined to time constraints like we are. He doesn’t live by a 24 hour clock. For God nothing has a beginning and end, a start and finish. Time just keeps going over and over.
Couple the time factor with the pain and sadness that He endures for us and I cannot even begin to try and imagine how His heart feels. We'll never know. We feel our pain and sadness, and live within our own time constraints. That is the difference between us and our mighty, all-knowing and loving God and Father. Even as I experience pain and sadness, I feel comforted by the fact that He is here, with me, for ALL time and through everything.
Today begins a new season for me. Not only am I on a "Mummy holiday" for the next week but I am also taking a Facebook holiday. In the last week or so I have removed myself from various areas in cyberspace, so Facebook is the next logical step. As I am connected with many friends and my family there, I don't want to delete myself permanently, so I am deactivating my account for a little while instead. Psalm 119:37 tells me to "Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word." (NIV)While my friends and family on Facebook are not worthless, the time I spend on it sometimes is. So, I am going back to His Word so I can utilise my time (His time!) better in the here and now. He tells us in many places in the Bible how to utilise our time.1 Peter 1:13 reminds us to prepare ourselves for action and be self-controlled. Colossians 3:2 is an instruction to keep our mind on heavenly things, not earthly things. The most important piece of wisdom comes from Proverbs 4:23 - "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (NIV)The enemy uses many diversions to get us away from God and His purpose for us. Facebook is one of these diversions. We all know what the others are, and I am guilty as charged at spending a few hours too many watching DVDs instead of spending my time with God. And it’s not only God who I need to be spending more time with; it’s other people also; my daughter, my sweetie, friends and family, and me. By me, I mean just having alone time by going for a walk, reading a book, sitting by the ocean admiring His wonders, and so on.Our God loves us, and He wants us to utilise our time to the best of our ability. Our purpose is for Him. This new season will be the start of something good.
