Finishing Well.

What does it take to finish well?

What does it take to even run the race?

 You will squander time and you will invest time, depending upon what you do, but you will not get this day again.

Before finishing well I think of the life God has given me.

I don't see anything too exciting. I'm overjoyed as a mother of 1 and another on the way. This is an amazing gift to me. I am a wife of a man that I respect so completely. A man that I think is stronger than any man on earth mentally and physically. He too is a beautiful gift to me and I'm thankful.

But looking at my life from the comparison of a biblical character I can wonder sometimes if I'm not cutting it for the "good race." Or that sure I'll raise godly men (Oscar and Wells) and they will go off to be great warriors for Christ. Is that how I will finish well then, I ask myself, Through my boys accomplished life and possibly through Dave's great love and victories in our lifetime?

God hasn't called me to Africa or India even though my heart swells with love for the children there. I've struggled in the past wondering if I'm supposed to do more, travel more or be more self sacrificing. Well, as I've given that to the Lord I've received a peace in return for where I'm at right now. I am to stay put for now. So I wake up and face a day of cleaning and teaching Oscar and feeding our hungry household...everyday I spend without great victories or achievements. So what is the race then? And what is finishing well as Paul talks about in II Timothy?

I heard God's voice even at a young age.  I enjoyed hearing from Him even when He gently brought my sin to light. As I got older and matured in my relationship with Him I heeded to His voice and to the direction He was leading me. Listening for His voice and then obeying were essential in my walk with Him. I noticed as I got older that the more I listened for Him, (through prayer or surrendering to Him during the day and therefore being ready to hear) the more I heard Him. The more I obeyed what I heard the deeper our conversations and time spent would go. 

Now in contemplating the "good race" I notice something very similar in the every day race to hearing God's voice.

Each day seems to have a purpose in it. God in me is not wasted on a day of cleaning and playing with Oscar. This is the day He has made. Psalm 118:24 He designed my day for me as I am fully surrendered to Him in the spirit. Since I wake up He has established my day. I can't pin point every time but I can tell He has moments in my day that I may join Him however that is. Everyday there is an opportunity to join Him.

Some days I hear Him calling me to my knees. When Oscar is napping and me being 7 months pregnant I just want to collapse onto the couch and take a nap but I can hear in my spirit the Lord calling me to him, I can tell I am to worship and listen on my knees. It's my choice if I heed to His calling and obey His still small voice. Or He may be asking me to call someone right in the middle of my day when I should be finishing the dishes or getting things ready and organized for the new baby. 

The thing I've noticed is the more I heed to these callings the more of these opportunities He gives me. 

A lot of these times during my day it will be inconvenient for me or a nusiance. Yet It is God's day His plan and His life in me. He is my instinct, my compassion, my desire for His purpose comes from Him inside of me.

What I may think is inconvenient to my day is actually an invitation to join Him in the beautiful dance of life between Father Son and Holy Spirit, and He invites me. This thought on the race was confirmed for me when I read Ken Boa's take on the race. I pasted it below:

So, it would be prudent for you to realize that God always has some particular purpose for each day and if we are not careful we can get so consumed in our activities, and the allusion of control, that we will miss out on the small voice of the Spirit and miss out on what I call those 'kairos' moments. Remember, we have distinguished between 'chronos' and 'kairos'. Chronological time is 'chronos', and that is what you put in your daily planner, but 'kairos', opportunity time, you can not plan. That is something God Himself creates and you don't know when it will be. Undoubtedly, those times in the course of the day, which you cannot plan, will be the most important moments of your day. I think God gives us at least one kairos moment everyday. That is my suspicion, but how many have missed? You look back and think, "That might have been it." You don't beat yourself up, but just try and be more discerning next time and try and catch that moment. As I have said, also, those kairos moments also appear to be interruptions. They will often appear to be a nuisance. The reality is, though, that they may well be invitations to serve Christ as he is mediated through the presence of the one you see. 

I was inspired by what Ken said about Chronos and Kairos. Proverbs 16:9 "A man plans his way but the Lord directs his steps."  I may be preparing for certain things in my day, kairos, but the Lord pulls out these Chronos in the middle of my day providing me an opportunity to join Him and be blessed.

"To Live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21