Don't let yesterday use up too much of todày

Greetings:

God values the emotions he created in us. The Bible bursts with emotion from Genesis to Revelation and God is often the main character in these scenes.

Our God is different from the array of other gods that we have seen through history – those carved out of people's imaginations and out wood, metal or images of spiritual darkness.

Our God loves, forgives, feels our pain.

He's a God of mercy, grace and power we can't even understand.

Showing emotion is natural.

But those who do show a lot of emotion are sometimes labeled  as shallow, loony, crybaby, hysterical and weak.

If we shed tears a little too often, we're perceived as unstable or wimpy.

On the other hand, if we rarely show emotion, people say we're cold-hearted. It's easy to see why some of us  become so uptight about others' judgments that they tiptoe through life walking on emotional eggshells.

Just relax. Don't worry about what other people say or think about you. Be yourself and listen to God's direction.

Importantly, we need to remember that God gives us the ability to learn how to be ourselves, express emotions and come to the relaxed peace of his presence.

In Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) we read, "But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!"

We must not lose touch with God, even when life is tragic or very busy. We have to be careful not to do to much for God that we miss God in the process. What I'm saying is, we can get to busy doing 'God things' in the church that we miss what God is telling us or directing us to do.

There must be a balance.

We must simply stop ourselves and reach out to touch reality, both physical and spiritual, otherwise, we can gradually drift away from the very one who gave us life and vibrancy in the first place.

People can get spiritually burned out as well and become too busy and consumed with 'church things' that they grow weary in life away from the church. Some can even loose touch with their families because they are too busy working  for the Lord.

God calls us to lead a balanced life.

Why do you think ministers and others go away to retreats – away from the pressures and rat-race of normal life and try to get closer to God through relaxation.

I'm guilty of not doing this enough. It's hard for me to unwind and just relax. But God is still working on me. He's not done yet, I have to confess.

Be blessed.