THE TETHERING PLACE

For me, when I have any moments available, the thread that often gets pulled is the unending to do list. Laundry and cleaning and doing dishes, scheduling doctors appointments and responding to emails and texts, loving people via inquiring about their day or sending a note, making sure that lunches are made and snacks are prepared and somewhere in the midst getting a shower. And as I confess these things, I admit they are necessary and good, but yet they are distractors from the source of life. When I go about to each of these tasks apart from Jesus, my attitude does not reflect gratitude or thankfulness or presence. My fuel becomes self-worth, pride and recognition from the world.

The only way of freedom is as Hebrews 12 says, to throw off the sin that so easily entangles. If sin {I have heard it defined as Selfish Independent Nature} simply is anything that is self-serving and not drawing us near to Jesus, then this conundrum suddenly becomes clear. I desire to throw these things off for a time, not that they’re inherently bad, not that they must not be done, but in the sense that they are a mental and physical snare, a tripwire keeping me from what really matters. When I put my savior first, all of those tasks are then accomplished with a different attitude or “heartitude”, as my friend calls it. One of peace and efficiency and greater purpose because I know already that I am loved. That I am enough. That I am adored and empowered by the living God. That if I sit still for a moment, the world will still run and it is not held together by me and my frantic doing.

So this morning as I shipped my three little boys off to their schools and playdates, I turned around to face my house with an hour and a half of blank slate. The to do list crushed in, the sheets freshly peed upon cried out to my nostrils, the sticky breakfast dishes loomed, and yet my heart cried out for more.

Confession time.

I called my dear friend who has four kids and a full and generous heart and an incredible knack for scheduling and she gave me freedom. She told me to set a timer for 15 minutes to get any cleaning done I could to have my house feel a semblance of order. And as soon as that alarm went off?  Sit down.  Be free.  Have permission to just read, soak up good words, listen to the one who made me and who will no doubt breathe life and efficiency in the rest of my day if I put him first.

So my alarm just went off… I admittedly set it for 18 minutes and my excitement for the time that lay ahead gave me a skip in my one-legged hop. My house is sort of clean, laundry is humming, tea is made and I have an array of books and my journal set before me and I can’t wait to see what this hour might hold…

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  

Hebrews 12 1-2