Today’s post is from a conversation the Lord started with me a while back. I hope it is a blessing to you. You can read all of the previous Fasting Together posts here.
“You really have to hand it to short people; they usually can’t reach it anyway.”
So, it’s no secret I am vertically challenged. I stopped growing upward when I was about 11. Yay, me. As far as I am concerned, there should be a law your body follows that says you cannot spread out if you cannot grow up. And yet we all know that rule never has gone viral.
Some short people problems?
- I automatically start swinging my feet like a little kid when sitting in a chair that’s too tall for me.
- I am simply giddy when I meet someone who is shorter than me.
- Would you believe I have never looked out into the hallway through a peephole in a hotel room?
- Awkward hugs from people taller than me are just that: awkward.
- People who think they are cute when they take your things and hold them over their head where you can’t reach; yeah, not cute.
- You never know who is giving the sermon at church because you can’t see over or around the person in front of you.
- Worse than above, sitting behind someone with a hat on.
- And the award for most embarrassing goes to those that bend their knees when having their picture taken with you.
You get the idea. It’s a curse.
But there are other things about being short that can come back to haunt you. One of those is not being able to see the dirt in your own home.
I literally have to remind myself every few months to dust the top of the refrigerator, the hutch and any tall cabinets. I can’t see them, out of sight, out of mind, but taller people can and what I think looks great, they see nothing but a layer of dust.
The Lord seemed to remind me of this yesterday when I was cleaning the house. It was as if He whispered, what about the dust you can’t see? What things are hidden from me but yet are in plain sight for others? Do I have faults and failures that are obvious to friends and family but I am completely blinded by them?
Thankfully, the Lord will reveal things to us in prayer if we will listen. He will show us those things that maybe we have swept under the rug, or to the back of our minds thinking they aren’t really hindering us in our walk or that we will deal with them later…when we have time.
But that dust piles up! It grows and becomes more and more of a problem. When we finally do decide to clean it up, it takes more than just a dust rag to get it all. It becomes a process that may involve a vacuum, then a rag, maybe furniture polish or a wet cloth to get the greasy residue that has collected, such as on a refrigerator.
We all get busy, our prayer lives are neglected, Bible reading is minimal or rushed through and checked off and fasting? Yikes, it’s something we intend to do, know we need to do and wish we did more but in reality, it is like a faraway friend; we might visit once a year.
Matthew West sings a powerful song I have heard many times but yesterday the words struck me (also a powerful story behind the song!)
I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything
Instead of going through the motions?
So, how can we remove this dust we can’t see?
We must become intentional.
Intentionally rise a few minutes early and find a good devotion and Bible study. Intentionally turn off distractions and take time to pray. And finally, intentionally set aside time on a regular basis to fast and pray.
Stop going through the motions and become intentional about our walk with God!
The good news is there will be instant rewards! We will begin to get our passion for the lost back and start to fall in love with God all over again. We will start to crave the Word and look forward to reading it when we realize the power that it holds.
Recently, a beautiful new convert at church was sharing her excitement over the power of prayer. She believed what she heard from her pastor, that if she had the Holy Spirit, she then had authority and power to pray and ask God to intervene in a situation and He would…and He did. She was blown away to realize that she didn’t have to stop and ask anyone else to pray the prayer for her, she went straight to a Holy God herself and by the power that He had given her, Christ IN her, He heard and answered that prayer, according to His will.
My friend has been clearing the dust away, (she’s a shorty too!) and allowing God to show her areas in her life that still need cleaning.
If you don’t want to spend your entire life asking; “What if I had given everything?” Then get out that dust rag, dust pan, vacuum, etc., whatever it takes, and ask the Lord to help you start that cleaning process.
He will be glad to help.
(You can read my other humorous post about being a shorty here and I would love to hear your own stories about being the small-fry.)
Don’t forget to grab your copy of The Daniel Fast Devotional! Good for any fast, it is a great, simple read with devotions for every day of a three week fast. Get yours on Amazon here!
Prayers were answered; chains were broken.
