Good morning…

Freeing myself from the overgrowth of unimportant, I have spent the last week thinning out, pruning back, unsubscribing from the email lists of various establishments. Office Max. Home Deposit. Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Weight Watchers. Michael’s Craft Store. Fantasy Football News. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Pure Barre. Dick’s Sporting Goods. Blue Mountain Cards. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. To tell you the truth, I do not even know how most of these businesses got my email address in the first place. Myself, my husband, or one of our four kids likely responded to some offer we “just could not refuse”, a “too good to be true” offer slyly requesting an email address to complete the transaction.

My email inbox had become like the life of Paula D’Arcy, the author of our semester book Gift of the Red Bird. Paula says beautifully on page 44: “…I began to rob my interior time bit by bit in order to have enough of me to go around. This happened slowly and unsuspectingly, every decision seeming to make perfect sense. I did not betray myself in one grandstand moment. I repeated it in small, polite ones until my habit of doing so determined my life. Repeatedly I spent less and less time with God, but in order to do more things for him. I was chipping away at myself, but gently. I couldn’t hear it happening. Eventually I was aware of being physically tired, but I didn’t remember that my body is deeply connected to my mind and my soul. I raced on with confidence, while everything began to erode.”

We rob our interior time bit by bit. Slowly, unsuspectingly. You turned away from God, your Creator; you forgot the Mighty Rock, the source of your life, Deuteronomy 32:18 (CEV). We do not betray God as our top priority in one grandstand moment. We repeat our betrayal in small polite decisions, each seeming to make perfect sense. Gradually, we spend less and less time with the LORD, chipping away at our lifeline, but gently. We do not even hear it happening. Eventually, we wake up physically tired, overwhelmed, forgetting to remember that our body is deeply connected to the erosion of our mind and our soul.

It is time to ask personally: “To make sacred space for my interior time with God, from which unimportant commitments do I need to unsubscribe?”

…you have left your first love [you have lost the depth of love that you first had for Me]. So remember the heights from which you have fallen, and repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, your sinful behavior—seek God’s will] and do the works you did at first [when you first knew Me]…
Revelation 4:4-5a (AMP),

Sue