Cookies for Breakfast

I choose to do the things that I desire. I desire some things more than others. Not all things bring the same fulfillment. Different things bring different satisfaction and fulfillment. I tend to do those things that bring immediate pleasure or satisfaction. I eat cookies for breakfast. I look lustfully at an image.

Is pleasure that is immediate wrong? Is fulfillment always found in waiting for pleasure? What is the ultimate consequence of the pursuit of the immediate? I am usually left sick or wanting more. The pursuit of the immediate negates the realization of the ultimate.

If I choose lustful thoughts I give up loving relationships.
If I choose cookies for breakfast I give up healthy life.
If I choose sleep I give up productivity.
If I choose angry words I give up forgiveness and restoration.
If I choose TV I give up thinking and the developing of my mind.
If I choose credit I give up thoughtful stewardship and financial freedom
If I choose self I give up God.

How easy it is to choose the immediate. For every short term desire there is a long-term consequence. I cannot have them both. What do I desire more? How do I choose what is better when faced with the desire of the immediate? Understanding this does not remove the desire for the immediate. It may, however, replace it with a desire that is stronger for those things that are yet future.

Hurry Up and Wait

I think sometimes that I run so fast and never really get anywhere. It’s like there is grease underneath my feet and my legs just keep pumping while my feet continue to slide. I find myself speeding to work and home. Have you ever tried to drive the speed limit? It is a practice in disciplined patience. It is almost more dangerous in our city to drive what is posted than to go with the flow. Where is the flow going so fast? What is so important? Perhaps it is procrastination that has caused this hurried life. Perhaps we have said, “yes” to more than we can possibly do. Are you over committed? What have you said “no” to in the last week? We could probably fill a notebook with the things that we have said “yes.”

As I reflect upon the life of Jesus I do not recall our Lord hurrying anywhere. He traveled day by day. He encouraged his disciples not to be anxious for tomorrow. Upon receiving news of the sickness that had befallen his friend Lazarus Jesus waits to go to him. This was to the questioning of his disciples and even Martha as he approaches the home upon the death of his friend Lazarus. Jesus finds time in the morning and the evening to pray. He continually makes time to be alone with his Father. He sneaks away or he sends the disciples on ahead.

How is it that I am in such a hurry and my Lord never hurried anywhere? How is it that I cannot find time to spend with God and Jesus made it a daily time? How is it that I cannot say “no” to any good thing and our Lord could understand all things in the light of God’s timing and plan? I then seem to spend all of my time on all the wrong things. I have no day of rest or Sabbath. I spin and spin.

My babies are little boys and a girl. When did this happen? Who is raising them? What influence or effect have I had upon their lives? Will is 6 now. He is in first grade. When have I had time to be his dad? When will I slow down enough to love and to lead my own children?

John 11:9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 “But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”