by David Scott Robertson
It’s been a long time.
It’s been a long time since I’ve recording any of my thoughts about God on paper.
That is something I like to do a great deal.
To write about the Lord,
To write to the Lord,
Is something that is, at least for me,
Unusually fulfilling, satisfying, precious to my soul.
What does it for you?
What is your hot button?
What jerks you out of bed in the morning?
What do you dream about?
If money wasn’t an issue
And you had all the time in the world to do the thing,
What would it be?
Maybe you’re a painter.
A sketch artist.
A songwriter.
A musician.
A writer.
A composer.
A dancer.
A sculptor.
Maybe you used to visit the nursing home,
Mow lawns for sick folks,
Or volunteer in the church office.
Maybe you used to do a lot of things that you don’t do anymore, because…
Well, just because.
But also like me…
Perhaps it’s been a long time
Since you’ve allowed creativity or acts of service to bubble up.
Could it be that you have dammed up a spring that used to gush forth so easily?
Is it possible that you, yourself,
(There’s no one else to blame, really)
Have squelched and squashed a gift that God has implanted in you
To be used for His glory?
Have you,
Like so many others
(Why does that fact that the multitudes are doing it seem to lessen to severity of slothfulness?)
Allowed the busy-ness of business
To subtlety and stealthily
Suppress the joy of inner-most expression?
That’s been my deal.
I can’t point my finger at anyone but the man in the mirror.
I could ramble off a long list of good reasons why I couldn’t, haven’t, didn’t…
But the bottom line is where there’s a will there’s way
And where there ain’t there’s not.
My painful conclusion?
I didn’t will it.
I didn’t want it bad enough.
I didn’t hurt enough.
I wasn’t persecuted enough.
I wasn’t threatened enough.
I wasn’t hungry enough.
I wasn’t motivated enough internally and was waiting on external circumstances to change.
Bad move.
Fatal move.
Our fleshly, carnal desires are supposed to die not the gifts of God inside us.
If that’s you
Then I encourage you to do what I have done today:
Declare to yourself that today is a new day.
Today begins a new era in your life history.
Today,
Yes, today,
Even now
Is the precise moment when destiny intersects time
And you move out in a conscious decision
To release what is held hostage inside of you.
My recommendation to you
Is to pay whatever the cost of starting might be
And get on with it.
The anything that we are doing
Is better than the nothing that we have done.
There is great wisdom, therapy, and enjoyment
In waking up dormant gifts.
Great energy is released when we fan into flame the spark of creativity
And it is a special victory to start a fire in a rainstorm.
Whatever the opposition,
Real or imagined,
If God be for you then who can be against you?
Just make sure God is in the thing
Or you’ll end up scrambling to climb the ladder of success
Only to discover
(Sometimes years later)
That it’s been leaning against the wrong wall all the time.
So I would say to you today:
Declare,
Decree,
Announce,
Acknowledge,
Speak forth,
Proclaim that today is a new day for yourself, in Jesus’ name.
Today you will return to the ancient paths.
Today you will revive something you know at one time worked well in your life.
Today you will begin the journey of a thousand miles with the first step.
Today you will engage your will and begin what seems impossible.
Today you will call upon the name of the Lord for His help
In pushing through the excuses
And conquering the greatest hindrance to our progress –
Our own mental limitations and restrictions
(I’ve met the real enemy and he is me.)
I say,
Today,
In the name of Jesus Christ,
Do it!
And remember this most important factor:
“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” (Colossians 3:17 NIV)
DSR
7/2/01