Midnight Musings

Well, night shift has officially ruined my beauty sleep. I couldn’t keep my head up because I was so sleepy all day and now that I am supposed to be in dreamland, I can’t get there. I laid in bed with my eyes squinted shut for about an hour and have finally given up to try to be a little productive during the hours that my brain is functioning. I began with a little candlelight cleaning. Maybe the kids will think a cleaning fairy came. Sadly, they have come not to expect much of it from me. I then made a great find. I dug through some clothes bins and found the one labeled “Anna’s Summer Clothes”. They have been in there for a couple of years. I was pregnant two summers ago and Dinah was born in May of last year. Dinah being the fifth child (I hate to blame her but I will anyway), I was still wearing maternity left-overs when the cool of fall came. I am delighted to announce that all of them fit! YAY! (My pocket book rejoices with me.)


As I performed the above tasks in the eerie quiet that the midnight hour can bring, my thoughts were on the scriptures that we have been studying in Sunday school. We have been in Colossians for several weeks. This is the passage that we have been meditating on as of late:

Colossians 3


Living as Those Made Alive in Christ


1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.


5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.[b] 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.


12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.


15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Well, now that you have read it, you can imagine why I am still thinking of it.

LORD, HELP ME!

As Satan would like for me to feel, I am tempted to wonder where even to begin and thus just give up on the whole project of self-improvement for Christ’s sake. But, in Jesus name, I say, “Get away from me, you ole Devil”, and seek to begin just where I am.

As I ask the Lord’s forgiveness, I ask yours as well. Tears well up in my eyes as I think of the ways I have wronged those I love and those I barely even know. Christ lives within me. Any of this black sin that comes in, makes its appearance because I let it. I don’t want to be that way. I want to put on LOVE first, because if I love, truly, I will be able to put off all of those horrible things. Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another, and forgiving are sure to follow.

So many times reading God’s word, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the Bible. How privileged we are to have it as guide! I read passages like these and know that if there is hope for the Colossians, there is hope for me. The people Paul were writing to were just like us, humans struggling to put off them the evils of the world and self and put on all the good that dwelt within them through the Holy Spirit.

So I am singing to God with the gratitude that is in my heart. I will see the bad and recognize it for the evil that it is. I will not make excuses. I will ask forgiveness, turn from my sin and walk in a new way. I rest in His forgiveness and allow His peace to rule in my heart. I will wear His yoke of kindness that fits perfectly, lightens my load, and helps me walk on the path of freedom. Oh, how I hope that you know Him too.

Becoming,

Anna

P.S. This is the first verse of the passages we study in the coming week:

18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

LORD, HELP ME!