Friday, January 26, 2007

The Deadline

I made it! I'm exhausted, but I made it.

For the last two months, I feel as if I've been running bases and finally I'm rounding third and heading for home. The coach is motioning me on. I go for it. A ball is fired in from left field. I race toward home, and just as I slide across the plate the ball heats up the pitchers glove. He goes for the tag and . . . I'm . . . safe! Whew!

Breathless? Can you feel the adrenaline?

Have you ever had a day, a week, a month . . . or months that feel like this? There's so much that needs to be done--that must be done--NOW. You move at such a fast pace that your adrenaline never shuts off. Adrenaline can be a good thing, but too much is something else. That's when all I can think of is rest, sleep . . . anything that will quiet my spirit.

Life is filled with dealines--a school assignment is due, a deal at work must be closed, a speech given, a book turned in--it can even be something as simple as getting dinner on the table at a specific time--not so simple when you have a house full of guests.

We humans know about deadlines. Some people thrive on them and some of us would rather face a dentist with a drill. There is one deadline we all share--our exit from this world. It sits out there in our future--waiting. Will it be heaven or hell? Depending upon our answer it can be a terrifying prospect or it can be a promise. Me? I have a Savior--not that I deserve one, but He offered. I placed my trust in Christ many years ago so I'm looking at a heavenly eternity. I find peace in that, but it also charges me with an obligation. I have work to do before I go.

Scripture tells me that life is a race and I'm to run in such a way that I will win. This race cannot be ignored. And so I "beat" my body into submission. This could create an ugly image of torture and, for some, it may be. However, I don't think God intended it to be. Rather, we are to submit outselves to Him--walk closely, remain in his Word, seek His will and say no to the things in this world that distract us from His call, the only invitation that really matters. To fulfill that call I have to stay close my Father and keep my butt in the seat--my computer chair that is. Writing is what He's called me to, at least for now.

To run well we must spend time with our Heavenly Father. Adam and Eve walked in the garden with God and they talked with Him. It is a beautiful picture of oneness. Can you imagine how it must have been? There was nothing separating mankind from their maker. Adam and Eve knew only love and contentment.

Things have changed drastically since then and the race goes on. Although we run to win we are offered peace.

I've another book due in five months, speeches and workshops to create and a family that loves to spend time with me and whom I adore spending time with. And each day I climb into my Abba Father's lap and seek His way, His will. And there I find my peace. He's the one who directs my paths. Only in Him shall I know rest.

The all important deadline awaits. When that day comes I hope to hear, "Well done thy good and faithful servant."

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:13 PM

    I hope you celebrate conquering another deadline. Sometimes we just plunge headlong into the next thing without stopping to savor.

    Here's one of my favorite quotes:

    The modern world has far too little understanding of the art of keeping young. Its notion of progress has been to pile one thing on top of another, without caring if each thing was crushed in turn, People forgot that the human soul can enjoy a thing most when there is time to think about it and be thankful for it. And by crowding things together they lost the sense of surprise; and surprise is the secret of joy.
    G. K. Chesterton

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  2. Thanks Wendy.

    I love the quote! Right on.

    Bonnie

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  3. I know it's been a little while since you finished, but congrats! I finished a new book one month later on February 28th!

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