Rearrange My Heart
1 John 5:14-15 “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”
When I was a little girl, I used to love coming home and finding my mom had rearranged my room. A simple repositioning of a chair and a few pillows. A few small enhancements to bring excitement back to my little domain. A little freshen up to change how I viewed my space. A little act of service spoken in the love language I best recognize. Suddenly, I longed to spend more time in my “new” room.
Throughout the years I’ve done similar experiments with my boys. I will do toy box ups and rotate out the toys every few months. Toys ignored for a year then put out of sight for 6 months are once again treasured when they resurface. Recently I turned the quilts on the reverse sides and added a couple new pillows. It was enough to feel like a new room and all 3 boys began wanting to hang out there just a little bit longer.
Can a few small changes cause us to desire to linger a little longer?
I’ve noticed the same thing with any “systems” we implement. They work well for a time, but after a few weeks or months we become too comfortable with them. They lose their steam and we find ourselves in a little slump. Every few months I have to implement a new chore system to spark excitement and bring life to our household work again.
I find this to be true with my spiritual walk as well. It can’t be systematic. It must be dynamic. We serve a God who can and will work through a multitude of mediums to reach our hearts. We should never approach Him with a complacent heart.
Have you found yourself a little too comfortable in your walk?
One of the first bible studies I took as a new christian was a Beth Moore study. Here I was a brand new christian, bubbling over with excitement for the Lord. During the video Beth Moore said something like this, “We must never enter church with our commonplace shoes on.” I remember being puzzled by this. What could she possibly mean? How could anyone possibly be commonplace when entering God’s house? Well, 13 years later, I know exactly what Ms. Beth was referring to. The longer we have walked with God, the more prone we are to wander and become a bit lukewarm.
I find this true in my morning quiet times. I am a girl who loves a system. I love organization. I love task lists. Tell me how to do it and I’ll knock it out. But my quiet time with the Lord should never be an item to be marked with a check. Because the moment I categorize God with a chore chart, I’m in danger of viewing Him as just another job.
When we lived in Atlanta I attended this incredible bible study for young moms led by the most godly seasoned moms you could imagine. That time of my life was a huge spiritual growth spurt. A wise mom shared a daily Bible reading schedule with me that I just loved. If it is the 30th of the month you read Proverbs 30, Psalm 30 and add 30 to finish the Psalms (30, 60, 90, 120, 150). If it is the 5th of the month you read Proverbs 5 and Psalm 5, 35, 65, 95, 125)
It was a great system. But dangerous for me because my quiet times became too rigid and structured. I was putting God on my schedule rather than letting Him lead the charge.
Sometimes we need a little change-up in our lives. A little something fresh to revive life. In my life, I’ve found the first step is always to pray.
If you find yourself falling into a bit of a rut in your walk with the Lord, pray. Simply pray. We change. God doesn’t. We shift and move from God. He doesn’t. Our feelings change. His don’t. He is always the same, never moving, never leaving us. When we find ourselves “feeling” too far from Him, we must pray. Because He never left. We moved.
A fresh change in our hearts might be in order. Can we flip our hearts like we can flip a quilt? Exposing the side that has been protected from daily use. Can we toss in prayers like we toss a new pillow on a chair? Is it as simple as asking God to revive our hearts with a little rearrangement? I believe it is that simple. What seems impossible to us is a no-brainer to God. An honest, humble prayer that pleads for a heart more fully devoted to God, seeking Him in complete awe, is a prayer I imagine God would love to say yes to.
We can slap paint on a chair and add a new pillow. Our hearts are no chair. It takes more than some external, cosmetic changes. That’s why prayer is an absolute necessity.
