Time flies when you're....busy?

It's 5:30 am on a typical weekday morning. I hear the faint beginnings of the first of many alarms start to go off across the room (a side effect of living by myself). After a few moments of sleepy haze, I hurl myself out of bed and drudgingly cross the room to hit snooze... and then I crawl right back into bed and halfway doze off until I hear the next sound in the round of attempts to wake my non-morning self up. This pattern continues for at least a good 30-45 minutes. The radio alarm next to my head goes off...it's now 6:15. I know I should be up already, and should be doing my quiet time, but my eyelids feel like I have small rocks holding them shut. I wrap myself up in the comforter even tighter, and convince myself that ill only snooze another 10 minutes. Submerged in sleepless oblivion, I try to decipher if the traffic report I hear and the celebrity gossip is really on the radio, or if im having another dream.

I look at the clock...dang. It's 6:50. What happened to the 10 minutes I was just going to "rest" through? Now I have 35 minutes until I need to leave. I scramble to jump out of bed and get ready for work. I dont have time to do my whole bible study (we're doing a Beth Moore series in small group). I decide that ill take my lunch break to complete today's lesson. I rush to get dressed with as little ironing as possible, and im out the door - squeaking into the office just in time.

Work is so busy that the morning seems to fly right by. I glance at the clock, it's 11:15. I decide that I will take lunch at around 12:30, go lock myself in the supply closet and do my lesson. The next thing I know I look at the clock again and its now 2:45, so much for lunch. I scarf down whatever snack I have in my desk or grab something out of the vending machine and keep plugging away. I make a mental note that ill do my quiet time when I get home. Ahh, but yet it's another typical busy weekday evening, and I find myself getting home late. I muster up enough energy to go check my email. I respond to about half, and save the rest for later...ive been staring at a computer screen all day, so by this point another computer screen just makes my eyes burn. I throw in a load of laundry, wash my face, and collapse sometime around 1am.
This is often my weekday trend...notice something I missed? Oh yeah, I never got around to reading my bible that day like I said I was going to. It's such an easy pattern to fall into. I had every intention of doing it, but it (like it often does when I get slammed) got pushed by the wayside. Sure, I talk to God all day - I pray constantly...that should count for something right?

Well, yes and no. Yes, God wants us to talk to Him on a continual basis, but he also gave us His word for a reason, we're supposed to LEARN it! I dont think I would feel very comfortable going in for surgery if my doctor said "yeah, I kind of skimmed the med. school books..I can wing it enough to figure out what im doing"...uh, no thanks - ill keep all my organs in tact please. Same principle applies to us - how are we supposed to display God's word to others and convey it to those who do not know Him, when we ourselves dont dive into it daily? I have been convicted about this for some time, but hearing David speak about it last night at 722 confirmed the convictions of my heart. It's so easy for me to get distracted with all the other things on my plate, and put reading the bible farther down on my list. But how am I supposed to be achieving His full potential for my life if im not doing the homework? I could slide by sometimes in high school without reading the chapter, but real life's a whole different ball game.

I went back and re-read Psalm 119:97-112...

"Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me.
I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.
I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.
I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word.
I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me.
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow you righteous laws,
I have suffered much; preserve my life, O Lord, according to your word.
Accept, O Lord, the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me your laws.
Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law.
The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts.
Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.
My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end."

Wow. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. God doesnt command us to read His word to punish us and make us feel like we're always in "class"...He loved us so much that he GAVE us His word so that we wont fall flat on our faces every time we try to make a decision on our own. I mean seriously, who tries to put together a bomb without reading instructions first? Not reading the bible on a consistent basis is like walking through a mine field blindfolded and without a map. If you could only see, and you could map out exactly where the explosives were buried, your chances of being blown into bits would be far less than if you just aimelessly tried to wander through it all by yourself.

So tonight I pray for discipline. Discipline, diligence and commitment to immerse myself in His word every day...I've hit enough mines of my own, and from experience, I prefer to have the map.

JW