Hey Jesus, it's me again... it's been a long time.
I've been distracted. Distracted by life. Scrolling through Instagram, tapping through stories on Snapchat is time consuming, but so addicting. It's wild to me how we can become to invested in other people's lives, even if we don't know them. We even get consumed by Netflix, binge watching is the new fad. Will Rachel come back to Ross? Will Ted ever marry Robin? Who the heck is A in Pretty Little Liars? Why did Derek have to die? We can't stop watching till we know.
It's crazy, I'll sit on my bed, bible beside me on my nightstand, I'll put on a worship song, start writing in my journal then my phone will buzz or a song I don't want to listen to plays so I'll pick up my phone and start playing on it. I know, people say "put it on do not disturb" or "turn it on airplane mode" or "don't have your phone in the room" and believe me I've tried to discipline myself in all of those things but I'll still be distracted.
We live in a generation where we think about the next thing or we dwell in the past. We struggle with having a clean slate in our mind to build something new. It's not just our phone that's distracting. It's worrying about finances, it's worrying about what we'll eat for dinner or how work is going to pan out the next day. We have our "rest days" but normally (at least for me) rest days involve laundry, meal prep, cleaning and catching up with friends I haven't seen all week since I've been working.
I started reading a book called "Girl Wash Your Face" and the second chapter really stuck out to me. It was about commitment. Commitment to self-care, commitment to spending time with Jesus, commitment to go to the gym (which is funny since my bestfriend and I made a commitment to go to the gym everyday at 7AM the day before I read this - we're on day 8 so I'll keep you updated).
But why does the commitment to spend time with Jesus, the creator of the universe seem so daunting? Why is it so hard to spend 15 minutes reading the bible without thinking of anything else? I will have my good 2 days where I'll get through a chapter and feel accomplished then it all goes downhill. Or I'll set a streak on the bible app but lose that before my snap streak easily.
Jesus, my prayer is to get back to where I started when I first met you (yes I feel like I say this a lot) but I need your strength to make a commitment to spending time with you. That sounds so sucky, imagine asking your friend "give me the strength to hang out with you."
But I know I can't do life without Him, and sometimes it's okay to ask for strength.
Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength"
Isaiah 40:29 "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak"
Psalm 22:19 "But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me"
Some of the most well known people in the bible asked God for strength, Moses when delivering the Israelite's, David when he went to defeat Goliath, Daniel when thrown in the lions den, Ruth while escaping a famine in Judah. Obviously these stories are a little more intense then just asking for strength for commitment but God is the same God today as he was in these stories.
I just have to remind myself, it's okay to ask for help and Jesus is ready with open arms to lift you up.
So Jesus, it's me again.., asking for strength.
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