Hit a little wall late the other day. Not a giant one--just a mini wall of dispiritedness: too much to do, too little energy, too much detritus littering not just the house but my heart. Sometimes all we have to do can overwhelm us--especially when we refuse to hand it to the Father and instead try to shoulder all the load ourselves. It can be a lot of little nit picky things along with a few major projects thrown in... and the next thing you know, we experience a vague sense of dread and exhaustion and discouragement.
I woke up yesterday with the lingering and disheartening feeling that I was still way behind on all these projects (well, maybe generally behind in life) and just couldn't seem to make a dent. Couldn't seem to even get started to try to make a dent!
And then I opened a little devotional book to read something to Peter before he left for school--the words may not have been for him, but they sure were for me. O my, thank You, our ever faithful Father.
David Jeremiah writes:
"Thomas Carlyle labored with intensity on the first volume of a three-part study of the French Revolution. He felt it could be his greatest work. He loaned the manuscript to his friend John Stuart Mill to read, and Mill read it by the fire. One morning the maid, cleaning the room and seeing the scattered pages on the floor, threw them into the fire. [My note to self--sounds like the kind of friend to whom you shouldn't loan your manuscript... scattered pages on the floor? Geez!] When Carlyle learned his manuscript was burned to ash, he sank into an abysmal depression. Some time later, still desolate, he saw a brick mason through the window. The man was standing on a scaffold, singing and whistling to himself as he built the wall of a house one brick at a time. Watching him, Carlyle decided he would write his book again, one page at a time. His history of the revolution became famous and he is remembered as one of Scotland's literary giants."
Maybe nobody else needs to hear that today, but I certainly do. We know all the old cliches about a journey of a thousand miles beginning with the first step, but sometimes we just need to reminded--it's brick by brick, stone by stone, step by step... starting now... with that first brick. Stop looking ahead and fearing how the finished product may look. Stop looking back and regretting that you didn't start yesterday. Stop looking at those past failures and despairing that you'll never get it right.
Just start building today. I couldn't help but think of a couple of verses from Hebrews 3: "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion" (v.7) And "But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." (v.13)
It's been said that satan's favorite word is "Tomorrow," while Jesus' favorite word is "Today."
"Today is the day of salvation." (2 Cor.6:2)
Start breaking that bad habit--today. Start mending that difficult relationship--today. Start that habit of reading God's Word--today. Start facing that impossible problem one brick at a time--today. Start obeying what you know God is telling you--whether it's to love that sometimes unlovely person in your life or cleaning out the clutter in your home and your heart or just simply starting that project you can't seem to face... today... with that first brick.
We can do it--one brick at a time. We have the Master Bricklayer with us and beside us and before us and behind us and within us... and for us. Always for us. And always reminding us--look to Me, lay the burden upon Me, trust Me, see Me in this. And start. Today.
To God--our eternally present and infinitely powerful I AM--be all the glory.
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