Today the other half of my brain and I were attempting to study for an exam that we have tomorrow. I say attempted because our motivation level for school this semester is at an all time low. Partly because our classes are semi-boring and partly because we have put our every effort into school for the past two years and just want a break. Either way today, just like every other study session this semester, we went through the motions of studying. At one point, we did have a serious study moment that reminded us both of our previous study habits. The serious moment was short lived as we started laughing and realized that we still knew very little for our exam tomorrow. Shortly after ending our semi-productive study session, I was going to the imaging section of the HSC. As I approached the elevators, I hit the up button. The imaging department is in the basement; my PT classes are on the 8th floor. I was clearly going through the motions again by going into robot mode and instinctively going to the 8th floor instead of using my brain to go to the basement. A lot of times I am guilty of going through the motions of my day and I usually blame it on a lack of coffee. But sometimes I wish I were still curled up in my unkempt bed with a good book and my cat and leave my motivation behind for the day as a result.
When I find myself extra tired in the mornings, I simply drink more coffee. When I lack motivation and long for a lazy day, I simply fill my day with more laughter and focus on only the positive aspects of my day. But what do we all do when we find ourselves back to the exact place in our lives we hoped never to return to? Do we go through the motions of life or do we call out to only one who can carry us through ANYTHING when this life has broken us down? I have been drawn back into the world of sin time and time again and each time I was never fulfilled. I was just going through the motions of enjoying and participating in my destructive lifestyle that had become my normal routine of living. I have also been brought back to the times in my life filled with pain, anguish, and fear. Again, I went through the motions of living a life depleted of my hope and my faith. Every time I am reminded of the pain of losing a loved one; my strength diminishes and my heart is torn back open and my sorrow becomes just as real as it was months ago. When my strength seems nonexistent and my pain feels overwhelming and Satan is whispering in my ear, determined to find victory in my weaknesses; I have to put my hope in God or I will go back to going through the motions of life opposed to truly living. Our mind is a powerful tool but when God controls our heart; our heart overpowers our minds. We can spend an entire lifetime barely surviving opposed to truly living if we run from God when the walls start to fall in and our lives suddenly seem unsafe and unbearable. I know we have all been at points in our lives where it was all we could do to pull our lifeless bodies off of the couch to face the day. And we have all searched for answers to life in the form of drugs, alcohol, sexual desires, and impure thoughts. And as we cling to any source of strength inside of us, we represent a paper doll crumbled and faint merely existing in a world of vibrantly thriving individuals. When we are at the paper doll times of our lives, we need to exchange our lifeless piece of paper for a puppet. When we allow ourselves to become puppets; we allow God to be the live that we need. A puppet doesn’t bring entertainment, laughter, and fulfillment without a hand inside of it. A puppet can’t possibly come alive by itself and neither can we friends. When this world sucks the life completely out of us, our only hope of regaining our liveliness lies within Christ. Puppets don’t have to worry about proper motions because their performance lies within the hand of the entrusted puppeteer. Children of God (and we are ALL children of God) don’t have to get stuck going through the motions of life because our lives have been entrusted to the one who created us; our only hope; our God.
Verse to remember: Ezekiel 37:1-5 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley, it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said O Sovereign Lord, you alone know. 4 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, Dry bones hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these dry bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.
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