focus

Time with Friends

/ Regina Walker / 1 Comment

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Life has felt harried and hectic for so long that I can hardly remember a time that I truly enjoyed a moment without a long list of to-do’s distracting my focus.

Until today, that is. I stopped by to drop off a few things for a friend, and stayed for tea, pumpkin cheesecake, and good company.

I didn’t sit at her table and think of a million other things that needed to be done. I didn’t sit at her table and try to mentally balance my checkbook, or worry about my most recent marketing attempt, or the next truck coming in.

I got to enjoy the conversation, the tea, and the treat without worry and distraction.

When I got back home, feeling refreshed and joyful, I had some soul-searching to do. It’s not that I suddenly have nothing to do. It’s not that I’m at my leisure 24/7. But I am seeing clearly that it is possible to have too much to do. It is possible to chase so much of the wrong stuff (maybe good stuff, but not the best stuff) that we can’t enjoy what we have.

Friends, tea with each other is the best stuff (or coffee, or smoothies, or cake). Muddy kids playing on a warm January day is the best stuff. Creating, crafting, writing… this is the best stuff.

We don’t have to agree about what is best – what matters is that we sift through the noise, the chaos, and cultural expectations to figure out what our own personal version of the best stuff is.

I’m going to pursue more of the best stuff. More time with the people I love, family & friends, more time creating, more time focused.

I’ve found that pursuing the best stuff postures my heart to worship God moment by moment. When I’m not mired in too much of the wrong stuff, I can see God more clearly and worship Him more freely.

I think I’ll write in the morning about how God has been speaking to me about worship lately.

Until next time,
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The Right Who

/ Regina Walker / Leave a comment

This post is inspired by the recent message series at Life.Church, Divine Direction.

Pastor Craig really packed a lot of truth and guidance into this 4 part series. We’ve been going to Life.Church for 4.5 years and this is my favorite series so far. No doubt, I’ve been deeply moved by many of his messages, but this one really motivated me to examine my heart and my direction.

I’ve been wrestling with a big decision, that would add to my workload and eventually change my career. I thought after the first three messages that I was prepared to make the decision – although I was still wrestling a little bit. Then, as we made our way into service, I declared my (almost decided) decision to Mr. W. He told me that as long as I was deciding to put the idea to rest, that was fine. But if my decision was based on external factors – specifically our business and kids – then I needed to pursue the idea.

Those words didn’t help – kids and business were the top two things that swayed me away from the idea. But Pastor Craig’s messages pointed out that I needed to focus on doing the things I’m already doing, and to do them well. I don’t always do things well, I tend to go for quantity over quality, and I don’t think that honors God.

I’m diving back in to my talk notes from week 1 – Power to Become. Pastor Craig used this message to drive home the point that God cares more about who we are than about what we do. I’ve said before in my posts that God cares more about our character than our comfort. Whether we flip burgers, clean bathrooms, or are some high level executive, God is deeply concerned with our heart and our motives.

God wants to develop our character before He is concerned with our calling. Even the disciples went through a long process of becoming who before Jesus sent them to do. We can have the right career and the wrong heart, and therefore do the wrong things in that career. We can have what seems like the wrong career, but the right heart about it, and the way we are honoring God and the example we are setting makes it the right place for us to be – even if only for a season.

If we aren’t doing the seemingly small and insignificant jobs well, then we don’t deserve bigger jobs. We have to be faithful with where we are before God is going to move us up and on.

Translating all of this to my own life, and where I am in my life, I’ve been asking myself if I am doing my jobs well? I tend to take on a lot of jobs, so many that I can only do them partially because then I have to run to the next job – that, to me, doesn’t seem like a job well done. I guess somewhere in my mind, me doing part of the job is better than the thought that none of it will get done. This is flawed thinking, as I’m not the only one doing jobs.

So, in the several weeks since this first message, I’ve been trying to be more diligent with my jobs. I’ve been trying to get up earlier, and I’ve been trying to slow down enough to see jobs through to completion. I’ve also been trying to get more organized and to pick up after myself regularly. (I tend to make messes with the intention of going back to fix them later, but I rarely make it back to do the cleaning up part.)

I am going to work on becoming the right who, so God can direct my steps toward the right do.

Can you see how God is working on who you are in your current season?