Pressed for Time

Just as my title says, I'm pressed for time today. That's what happens when you sleep late. I don't know how my sister wakes up so early. I'd love to but would hate having an alarm clock wake me every morning and that's the only way I'd ever manage to wake up early. I'm just a dead head in the mornings. Here it is almost noon and I'm just now starting on my blog!! But I have all my chores done and I wrote an email to my Heart so the day hasn't been too empty of constructive things. Heart to Heart is a program at my church that links women together to write, call, or otherwise contact each other regularly for 6-month periods. It's just a way of building relationships. This is my second Heart but I think I skipped a period or two since the program began a year or more ago. It's so important to build these relationships but I've always felt stressed because of my hearing and the phone use. So, lucky for me, Kathleen overheard me when I told Nancy (who organizes and lines up the hearts) I'd love to participate if she could just find me someone who would be willing to email back and forth. That way I wouldn't have to worry about calling someone. Anyway, Kathleen overheard and just jumped right in saying she'd love to email with me. Yea! A heart after my very own heart. LOL.

So anyway, I have gotten a few things done this morning but it's turning out to be less than I'd like to have accomplished. Poor Kathleen, I hadn't contacted her in over two weeks. I've just been so busy with meetings and more meetings and more ... Well, you get the picture. I have a meeting in just a couple hours and have another one scheduled for tonight. But then that will be it for the week. Last night's meeting was canceled at the last minute so I've not had as many meetings as I started the week with. I don't do well in meetings because of my hearing loss. I only hear about 50% of what's being said. Oh well, the Lord can still use me I guess.

Michael called last night and he had a ball at his navy reunion and he said they were going to leave this morning for San Francisco. He may spend a night or two there and then he'll be home later this week. I'm soooooo glad he had a good time. You know, you just never know about these kinds of things.

I did it! Yesterday I washed my car. Couldn't stand it any longer and so it's sitting out in front of the house all shiny and clean. It would be nice if I had room to park it in the garage instead of leaving it outside to pick up all the dust and dirt, leaves and sap. But beggars can't be choosers and Michael needs (he says) all that stuff in the boxes taking up all the room in the garage. That was a twisted sentence, just went back and tried to make it a better sentence but I'm not sure if I succeeded.

I intended to do a devotional today but I simply don't have the time. My email to my heart took more time than I had planned on spending. It was just going to be a quick little note and ended up being quite lengthy. But I will comment on today's Bible verse: "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves ... groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." (Ro: 8:22-23) This groaning, this aching and longing for release from captivity to sin, is likened to the pain of childbirth. The Holy Spirit groans: "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." (Ro 8:26). We groan. And the earth groans. Everything in existence is in one way or another affected by sin. We live in a fallen world and the earth groans audibly. I watched a program years ago on the Discovery Channel about the groaning earth. It really does groan. For this show they sank a microphone deep into the earth and recorded the sounds of the earth actually groaning. It was awesome! So the earth really does groan.

We groan. Sometimes all we can do is groan. We are so deep into what grieves us that we can't find the words to express what we're feeling. That's when the Holy Spirit steps in and translates our grief to God our Father. It's comforting to know that when words fail us we can still go to the Lord in an attitude of prayer and the Spirit will act as a translator. I believe that we pray far more often than we realize because the Spirit is doing it for us. Remember He lives within us. He knows us inside and out and if we just go through our day in an attitude of prayer, our thoughts and needs will be translated. This, I believe, is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, "Pray continually" (1Th 5:17) This doesn't replace formal prayer because there's a need for that too. Just know that in between formal prayers we can maintain an attitude of prayer and the Father will get the message.

An attitude of pray is simply a releasing of your day (and whatever happens) to the Lord. It is absolute surrender. It's waking up in the morning and purposefully committing the day to God. It is a running conversation with our Father in heaven. It's living in the presence of God at all times no matter what's going on in your life. It's thinking of him every minute. Doing dishes? Think about Him. Got a card in the mail? Share it with Him. It's lifting up our cares and concerns and placing them in His hands for the day. It's a deliberate state of prayer. A conscious attitude of prayer. It's knowing that whatever happens in your day you are sharing it with Him. It's like listening to soothing background music in a bookstore. It's always playing in the back of your mind. Even when you are reading the book's jacket the music is still running through your mind. That's like an attitude of prayer.

So know this: the Holy Spirit will intercede should He need to and you can pray continually. Like you, the earth groans in anticipation of the coming release from sin's dreadful grasp but until that day comes we have a Helper Who is eager to pray for us. He will pray our prayers for us and will pray our prayers with us. He's our red phone to the Father.