Wake On Up From Your Slumber

Well, I wrote this on Wednesday and tried to post it, but internet problems have prevented me from posting it till now.

This week’s post (sorry I skipped a week), is admittedly not born out of love. Or even a desire to do good. No, this week’s post is born out of annoyance.

I’m not a morning person. You can ask anyone who knows me. I stay up too late for someone whose schedule requires her to be up at 6:00 am (and I usually oversleep). This being said, morning people can really irritate me sometimes. Especially today. Have you ever gotten to work and wanted to just muddle through until you fully wake up? Just let me get my coffee, sit at my desk, and do some stuff I don’t have to think too hard about until 10:00 am. That’s all I ask, really. But some people are up and peppy and wanting to tell you EVERYTHING. ABOUT. THEIR ENTIRE LIVES.

I can’t handle that. Honestly, I want to see you through Christ’s eyes, but when you’re yakking about every minute detail of your day at 8:00 am, I want to punch you in the face. That’s not Christian love, and I should really work on that. But it made me think about something. How often do we think about all the things we’re saying? Like really, take the time to stop and think about ALL the stuff you say to other people throughout the course of the day. How much of that has substance? What percentage is positive? What percentage is negative? Psalm 19:14 says, “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight…” Whatever is in your heart will wind up coming out of your mouth (Luke 6:45).

I’ve been told I’m a glass half full kind of person. I haven’t felt like it lately, but I usually do try to see the silver lining in situations. After all, I know the only One who can see the big picture, and I’m glad it’s He rather than me. But I do wonder about the things I say. Several weeks back I had someone confront me about my actions and how they might be considered as not very Christ-like. Though I felt this correction came from a place of judgment rather than love, I’m glad it happened because I started to evaluate my behavior. How much of what I do and say during the day is benefiting God’s kingdom? And how much is for my own personal gain or comfort? If the ratio is off (and I can tell you it’s off more often than I would like), then something needs to be fixed.

All too often, I treat life like I treat my mornings. Daily drudgery that I have to wade through until I can finally wake up and experience all that God has intended for me. That’s no way to live. Jesus called us to an abundant life (John 10:10 NKJV), not a mediocre life. Not a middle-of-the-road life. A vibrant and vivacious life. A life worth living.

My favorite band, NEEDTOBREATHE, released a new single this week. I don’t know how they do it, but I swear, sometimes those songs are written just for me. If there was ever a time I needed to hear these lyrics, it would be now. “All these victims stand in line for crumbs that fall from the table, just enough to get by. All the while your invitation- wake on up from your slumber, baby, open up your eyes!”

If things aren’t going the way we want, if life becomes mundane, if the ratio of abundance to drudgery is off by a landslide, then maybe it’s time to wake up from the slumber and start really living.