First Day
This is it! The day parents all over the nation have been waiting for… the first day of school! Yes, we’re excited that these precious, young minds that we’ve brought into this world are having the opportunity to go back to school to continue in their learning, growth and development process; but we’re really excited that we get to regain some sense of structure, routine, and normalcy back into our weekday schedules.
In my house, we sat down last night to discuss departure times, arrival times, pick-up times, pick-up locations, all the details needed to make sure we were all on the same page, that there would be no confusion or misunderstanding, so that we can all make it to our destinations in a timely manner. You can only imagine how excited I was this morning when everyone was in the car and we were pulling out of the driveway a whole minute prior to our agreed upon departure time. (This must be what the airlines feel like when they have an on-time departure!) I got my children to school and I was at my office by 8AM. Yes! God is so good!
It has been months since the last time I was at my office at 8AM and able to get a full day’s work in. Why? Because this summer seemed like a free-for-all. Everybody had different goals and different desires. Different children wanted to be in different places at the same time. This one wanted to sleep in late and that one wanted to get out early. Every time a different group of their friends said they were doing something, they felt the need to participate. Everybody was all over the place. And while it may have felt fun and exciting for them at the time, when you sit down and look back over the summer you have to ask yourself, “What did we really accomplish?”
How many of us live our everyday lives as if it’s summer break everyday? Everyday is a free-for-all and we are all over the place. We are so distracted by everything and everybody. Our goals seem to constantly change – that is if we ever had any in the first place. We look up and months have gone by and we haven’t accomplished anything that really matters. It’s one thing to take a break; but lacking discipline is something totally different.
There are some spiritual disciplines that should be such a part of who we are that we never take a vacation from them. We should be so in love with God that we want to be year-round students of His Word. We should be so dependent on His direction that we never want to go a day without talking to Him.
Now, don’t mistake what I’m saying. We all at some point need to take a break and maybe even need to get away. But Jesus is the one person that you should always want to get away with – not get away from. Maybe you need to sit down with yourself and determine what you’re going to do to discipline yourself to actually do the things you keep saying you need to do, but you haven’t done yet. This may be the only way you can help ensure you and everyone you’re connected to make it to their destin(y)ation on time. It’s not too late. Today can be your first day.
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