Five Minute Friday: Beautiful

Joining in with everyone over at Lisa-Jo Baker's blog again for Five Minute Friday. Five minutes of writing on a given word. Just writing what comes to mind, no serious editing or back-tracking in it for this one. This week's word is BEAUTIFUL.


Beautiful.

Early morning. Sun rising over the mountains. Mist rising off the lake. All was quiet, except a single loon calling in the distance. I was alone in my kayak in the middle of the lake, bathed in the warmth of the rising sun.

Photo taken by me on a hike.

 

Beautiful.

Late at night. It was a little bit cold as we lay on the edge of the field looking up at the sky. The Northern Lights danced above us. A multi-coloured show filled the sky above us.

Beautiful.

Snow falling all around me. The world is turning white before my eyes. Silence surrounds me - the only noise heard is the sound of my feet crunching on the snow with each step.

Beautiful.

Sitting atop a mountain. Sun setting behind the mountains across the lake. The city below a glow of light. So close and yet it feels so far from the noise of the city. Birds chirping are the only sound I hear.

Beautiful.

The world that surrounds us is so beautiful, but I don't notice most of the time. I'm too busy getting to the next thing. And I miss the beautiful creation that surrounds me.

The beautiful world that God created and then allowed me to live in. I need to learn to see the beauty of it more often. God's world is beautiful.

Discipline or Pleasure?

We weren't created to run on discipline only.

 

We need pleasure in our lives.

 

Because if it's only discipline keeping us going, we will eventually quit.

 

That's the way God created us.

But, in my walk with God, I find it easy to default to discipline. I like knowing what I'm supposed to be doing, when I'm supposed to be doing it, and how I'm supposed to be doing it.

Sometimes in my desire for those details I forget that I'm supposed to enjoy it too. I get so caught up in the "rules" that I miss everything else. At least for a while . . .

Just following the rules doesn't last long . . . even for someone who likes them.

I get tired of doing it because I think I'm supposed to. I get bored of doing something because I have to.

And it's because I'm missing something when I get caught up in the rules.

I'm missing pleasure. I'm missing out on enjoying my relationship with God. I'm missing out on enjoying much if life. And when I feel like I'm missing out, it's easy to just quit doing the things I feel are causing me to miss out.

Then I read Psalms and I get stuck in the 37th Psalm verse 4: "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."

The second part of that verse sounds great - God will give me what I want. But, that doesn't happen without the first part - I need to find delight in God first. And when I'm finding delight or pleasure in God, the desires of my heart become what He wants to give me anyways.

The question then becomes . . .

How do I find pleasure in God?

 

What does it look like to find pleasure in God?

I used to wonder if it was even possible to find pleasure in God, but Scripture seems to say that it is. So, then I'm left wondering how.

I think that's something that can be different for each person. We don't all find pleasure in the same things in the rest of life, so we won't all find pleasure in God in the same way.

For some it might be a worship service. For some it might be out in nature. For some it might be in the quiet place as they dig deeper into the Bible. For others it might be an art project or dancing.

Or it could be many other things.

But, one thing I'm learning, if I'm not finding pleasure in God, my relationship with Him stops growing and even goes backwards. Discipline will only get me so far. If there's no pleasure, I will eventually quit.

I'm not saying there is no place for discipline. We need it. We need discipline to keep us growing. But it can't be the only thing sustaining us, because that won't last.

We need discipline to come alongside our pleasure, so both can help us grow.

Wait Expectantly

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;

in the morning I lay my requests before you

and wait expectantly.

-Psalm 5:3

 

When I read this verse a couple of days ago, one question immediately came to mind. And has stayed with me since.

 

What does it mean to wait expectantly?

 

I mean that doesn't sound like what I normally think of when I think of waiting for something. Waiting is usually thought of as something passive. Something that requires nothing of us. We just sit there and do nothing until we get the answer we're waiting for.

 

But that doesn't seem to be the kind of waiting the psalmist is speaking of here. Waiting expectantly for something says more than we're just sitting around doing nothing.

 

Waiting expectantly speaks of being ready. We have to be ready to act on whatever the answer is when it comes. To be ready to do this, we have to be doing something.

 

The psalmist here was saying the he was waiting expectantly for God's answer to his prayers. The psalmist laid his requests before God, and then he waited for God to answer. But this answer was something he was ready for. When the answer came, the psalmist was ready.

 

So, what does it look like to wait expectantly in our lives?

 

It looks like taking our requests and our questions before God. And then waiting for His answer. But not waiting by just sitting there. Waiting that looks like doing what we already know to do as we listen for God's voice.

 

It's not about running ahead trying to make what we want happen. That defeats the waiting part of it.

 

But it's not about sitting around and doing nothing either. That defeats the expectant part of it.

 

Waiting expectantly is doing what we already know God has told us to do - even if that's just following Him in everyday life - while we listen for God to provide an answer to our request that brought before Him.

 

I don't always do this waiting expectantly thing well. But, it's something I want to learn to do better.

 

How are you doing at waiting expectantly?

 

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;

in the morning I lay my requests before you

and wait expectantly.

-Psalm 5:3