I read a quote from Eugene Peterson this week that I have been thinking about.He said, "Busyness is the enemy of spirituality. It is essentially laziness. It is doing the lazy thing instead of the hard thing."
I just finished a short stint teaching the teenagers at church. We have been studying the book of James in the Bible and the first chapter talks about how God's word is like a mirror that reflects back to us what our inside person looks like.
I had each one count up in their head how many mirrors they could think of in their house and cars, purse, etc. (over twenty here at my house) Then I had them count how many Bibles their family owned. Guess what, the mirrors won... but worse yet is how many times a day we check out our physical reflection compared to looking into the Word at our eternal reflection....too busy to examine the eternal but ever checking the temporal, diligently monitoring its decay? This challenges me...you?
4 comments:
Boy, does it ever!!!
I do not have the perfect hairdo that some 82-year-olds have so I do check on my head off and on.
Too many ons!!!
Then I will look pale to me, so I get out the lipstick. Glasses get dirty, so I get the cleaner. It goes on and on and yes, I don't pick up God's Word after reading it in the morning.
I remember in the past I would get a verse, write it down, and put it in a pocket, I used to have pockets in my clothes, usually dresses. Then I would check myself with it during the day.
Somewhere I lost that, blamed it on memory and no pockets.
Thanks for the reminder.
Betty G
Thanks Betty. I love your honesty and wisdom (and humor) I need to go to your blog and get a "fix"
Lin
Funny, I had to do it. I counted, and the Bibles by far out number the mirrors in my house. But perhaps it's a little pretentious to compare Bible's and mirrors. For a person only needs one to read (and more importantly the time set aside to read it).
On completely different note, I recently told one of my friends how when I'm out in public (particularly in girl's bathrooms) I refuse to look in a mirror. It's odd, I know. But I guess I don't want people to think I'm wrapped up in looking good.
After reading this, perhaps I will look in the mirror more, though. And instead of using it to show my physical apperance, letting it remind me of what God wants to me to reflect.
Celia
Thanks for your thoughtful comment.
I like the idea of being reminded to "reflect" what God wants. Lin
Post a Comment