Oh So Simple, Yet So Difficult

Post #100!  Yippee!  And it has only been 2 weeks since I blogged here last...  Oh, I am a hopeless blogger. 

Anyway, onto what the Holy Spirit helped me learn today.

1 Peter 4:7 tells us that The end of all things is near.  Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.

We must always live as if Christ could come back in the next hour.  Live each moment to the fullest, never putting it off until tomorrow because what if Jesus takes you home today?  The end is near because we never really know when the end is.

So here, Peter tells us we always need to be clear minded and self-controlled.  Two simple commands, but very hard to actually accomplish.  Well, for me anyway.

Clear mindedness seems to have left my brain somewhere between child #1 and #3 and I haven't found it back yet.  I am a young 31-years and will find myself standing in a room having no idea why I am there.  Or I will be in the middle of one task and get completely distracted with another one, only to find 2 hours later that the first task was never finished.  Ahhh!

Well, I don't think this is exactly what Peter was talking about, but some days I wonder if my thinking will ever be uninterrupted again.  I think our clear mind here means to make sure we know where we are headed and who we are living for.  Our decisions always need to be made with the clear fact that we are children of God and His living hands and feet.  If we waiver in this position by our attitudes, behaviors and decisions it can pull us away from Him.

Our self-control needs to follow suit.  Not the 'put that chocolate down' type of self control, but one a little bit larger.  It is so easy to live in this world, but so hard not to become part of it.  We must control our selfish wants and desires to fit in here, or have the most and best things, or to be in the best position.  Our self-control needs to be evident in the way that we find our peace and joy through things of the Father and the faith than of this world and the temporary happiness it might provide.

Lastly, Peter tells us we must have these two things so that we can pray.  When our mind is clear and we are under control we are in close communion with God and can communicate with Him ever so effortlessly.

It is so easy to fall out of this unity with God and to lose that conversation with Him.  When we find ourselves far away from Him, the 'talking' often seems pretty one-sided because we have gone too far astray to really 'hear' his answers.

So, clear your mind, control yourself and pray.  A good little mantra to chant to yourself next time you might find yourself in a pickle.