At 4:30 a.m. this morning, I sat
and thought to myself, “I don’t feel like cooking a pot of grits or flipping
pancakes this morning.” It was early, but this was the time God wakes me, most
mornings, to spend time with Him. My Bible and devotion books were next to me
waiting to be cracked open, so I did. I sat and read about Paul and his amazing
commitment to Christ. Paul’s entire life was completely consumed by Jesus, and
there I was complaining about cooking grits. I bet Paul didn’t have to get up in
the morning and cook breakfast. I’m sure he had the liberty to wake up and fall
on his face in prayer for as long as he wanted to. Excuses, excuses, excuses. I
can get up and fall on my face also, if I want to. My life can also be committed
to Christ. What does cooking breakfast have to do with it? Absolutely nothing.
A complaining spirit wanted to control my thoughts today. It started early,
didn’t it? One complaint about cooking breakfast would have led to another
complaint, and another, and another. If I don’t awake early to spend time with
God and allow His Spirit to fill me up, I’m full of junk - complete negativity –
trash thoughts! Yuck! I can hardly stand myself when I’m like that, so how would
anyone else stand me? My prayer every morning is for God to hide me from myself
and cover me with His Spirit of love, joy, compassion, mercy, understanding,
longsuffering, and any other characteristic of Christ, but not my own! After I
finished reading and praying, I felt like cooking breakfast. My mind was
renewed. A little consecrated, contemplated time with God goes a long way. Trust
me; I know! My mind is on Him now, not myself. Now, excuse me while I cook
breakfast for my family. Have a marvelous Monday!
