Christ's Place: 21 Day Fast

4 days into this 21 day fast and I've already had one of those days. You know, one of those days that makes fasting seem like too much of an inconvenience because my life is too important or too busy to be messed with. I was crabby yesterday, snappy and anxious. All I could see were problems and no solutions. I had challenges completely unrelated to the fast and they got me thinking: when I already have stress, already have difficulties, already have troubles, why add denying myself certain things I often without question indulge in, to the list of things that could cause me strife? How am I supposed to deal with the normal stress of everyday junk while adding all this unnecessary self denial?

But wait, that could be the point.

I'm giving up more of me to see more of Him. Could it be that the things that cause me stress, discomfort, trouble and difficulty are really just signs pointing to the One Whose feet I should fall at in the middle of all these things? When will I learn to have a God-response to the normal everyday stresses in life? When will I learn that life is full of everything- joy, hope, difficulty, prosperity, sadness, elation, disappointment, grace. Grace. Grace.

And can I ever get to the place where all of life doesn't send me reeling... but instead gets me kneeling...?

I want to see more of Him in the everyday, ordinary. Even in the things that at first cause me to worry, or cause anger or frustration, or annoyance, or pain, or discomfort. I want to see Him in EVERYTHING. For in Him I live and move and have my being. And wouldn't it be great, in the midst of much to do and much to fret about and many problems to solve and much to be worried and anxious about, wouldn't be great if I instead, like Mary, chose what was better? Kneeling at the feet of the One Whose words give life? Whose presence brings peace? Whose grace turns my focus from myself to Him?

May these 21 days of denying myself what I sometimes feel I can't live without truly set me on a course to kneel instead of reel through this life. You, too, dear ones.