" And they rose up early on the marrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play" -- Exodus 32:6
The customer coming in the door was a lady, perhaps in her fifties. The store was almost deserted at the time and after a bit of small talk and a short pause, she suddenly asked, "How can you stand peace and quiet? I'd have to have music going or something."
Somewhat startled by such a remark, I didn't know what to say. The lady soon left and I was left thinking about her statement.
Does Satan use noise as a tool to distract people and to occupy their minds with earthly, carnal things? It is much harder for God to get our attention, or rather for us to get our attention on God, when it is not quiet.
Worldly music is not the only tactic Satan uses to get our focus off good things. He does his best to supply us with all kinds of carnal fantasies to distract us.
What do we do when we have leisure time on our hands?
Perhaps we have a certain hobby that we enjoy. It might be anything from a little boy's collection of rocks and tadpoles to grandmother's rose garden. These can be right and good if they are kept in their proper balance.
However if such things become an obsession, they can be a real stumbling block to us.
We need to beware lest they become our 'golden calf'.
It is easy to become caught up with our daily duties, especially when work stands waiting in every corner.
Soon we will lose sight of our goal and forget what we are really here for.
--- Henry Miller
Joy is not the absence of trouble but the presence of God.
Good evening my blogging family.
I truly hope you and yours are having a fabulous day today.
I was reading this devotion last week while at the hospital with Robert and it just stuck in my head and I was like, 'I need to blog this'. :-)
I know I get distracted from God, on a daily basis actually. I am sure you do too. Especially you all with little ones.
Sometimes it helps just waking up 10-15 minutes earlier than usual to get that quiet time with God in. To get refreshment for your day from His Word.
Or when the little ones are napping, while you catch up on chores, put in a CD of the Bible and listen to it if you can't sit for a spell and read the Word.
For those of us without little ones...what are our excuses? We can't blame the animals or our husbands or our family now can we?
Do we spend several hours online or in front of the television instead of learning and growing from the Word?
Do we spend our time reading books about everything under the sun? What about The Good Book?
If we can spend 2 hours reading a book cover to cover, we can surely devote that time to the Book that really matters.
How are we as Christians supposed to defend our faith and tell others about Christ if we really don't know what the Bible says?
When someone ask you for prayer, do you remember to pray for them in their time of need? They are counting on you.
Forget about zoning out in front of the devilvision to 'Survivor' or 'Lost', but instead have a family night filled with hymn singing and Scripture plays. Or go down to your homeless shelter and use that time wisely.
Make your time count. We only have 24 hours in a day. Let's make them count for Our Lord and Saviour. For the One who bled on the Cross of Calvary for me and you.
Yours,
Dawn
The customer coming in the door was a lady, perhaps in her fifties. The store was almost deserted at the time and after a bit of small talk and a short pause, she suddenly asked, "How can you stand peace and quiet? I'd have to have music going or something."
Somewhat startled by such a remark, I didn't know what to say. The lady soon left and I was left thinking about her statement.
Does Satan use noise as a tool to distract people and to occupy their minds with earthly, carnal things? It is much harder for God to get our attention, or rather for us to get our attention on God, when it is not quiet.
Worldly music is not the only tactic Satan uses to get our focus off good things. He does his best to supply us with all kinds of carnal fantasies to distract us.
What do we do when we have leisure time on our hands?
Perhaps we have a certain hobby that we enjoy. It might be anything from a little boy's collection of rocks and tadpoles to grandmother's rose garden. These can be right and good if they are kept in their proper balance.
However if such things become an obsession, they can be a real stumbling block to us.
We need to beware lest they become our 'golden calf'.
It is easy to become caught up with our daily duties, especially when work stands waiting in every corner.
Soon we will lose sight of our goal and forget what we are really here for.
--- Henry Miller
Joy is not the absence of trouble but the presence of God.
Good evening my blogging family.
I truly hope you and yours are having a fabulous day today.
I was reading this devotion last week while at the hospital with Robert and it just stuck in my head and I was like, 'I need to blog this'. :-)
I know I get distracted from God, on a daily basis actually. I am sure you do too. Especially you all with little ones.
Sometimes it helps just waking up 10-15 minutes earlier than usual to get that quiet time with God in. To get refreshment for your day from His Word.
Or when the little ones are napping, while you catch up on chores, put in a CD of the Bible and listen to it if you can't sit for a spell and read the Word.
For those of us without little ones...what are our excuses? We can't blame the animals or our husbands or our family now can we?
Do we spend several hours online or in front of the television instead of learning and growing from the Word?
Do we spend our time reading books about everything under the sun? What about The Good Book?
If we can spend 2 hours reading a book cover to cover, we can surely devote that time to the Book that really matters.
How are we as Christians supposed to defend our faith and tell others about Christ if we really don't know what the Bible says?
When someone ask you for prayer, do you remember to pray for them in their time of need? They are counting on you.
Forget about zoning out in front of the devilvision to 'Survivor' or 'Lost', but instead have a family night filled with hymn singing and Scripture plays. Or go down to your homeless shelter and use that time wisely.
Make your time count. We only have 24 hours in a day. Let's make them count for Our Lord and Saviour. For the One who bled on the Cross of Calvary for me and you.
Yours,
Dawn
6 comments:
That my dear was an excellent post! We ought to all examine ourselves and make sure we are doing right.
What a great post Dawn, both yours and Mr Millers.! St Josemaria encourages us to offer all of our prayers, works, joys and sufferings of the day to God and thus everything we do from cleaning the toilet to spiritual reading is sanctified.
Since discovering that I could watch EWTN on my computer I haven't looked at TV and don't miss it.
Thank you for sharing that.
What a wonderful post! I try hard to spend my time wisely. I homeschool our two daughters and throughout the day I try to pick up here and there. I try very hard to read the Bible each day because most days I need a little encouragement. (We all do!)
I will be praying for your husband. I am sure he is in alot of pain.
Blessings,
~Renee
wonderful post Dawn. Its so true too, we can become so distracted with busy-ness and hobbies that peace seems strange to us.
You've been tagged, go to my page for details:)
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