Yes = Yes, No = No

First of all, shame on me for not updating for 2 weeks!

Second of all, thanks for the responses to my last post. I got a few via email. I think that overall, I learned to stop being lazy and just get gas when my tank is low. Very simple stuff, not deep at all.

But someone did make an interesting point that I've been learning about recently:

"Ok so maybe God is trynna tell you not to let Him be emptied out of you. It may be time to refill! Sometimes we sit around saying "oh I will just get gas later". That could be true about your spiritual life. I know sometimes I'm like "oh I will get in the word later, I will worship later. Then next thing you know I'm on empty, can't move, can't do anything. I try to start up again from where I was but it doesn't work. So... It may be time to refill!"

So that's not a new concept to me, but God has been convicting me about how I give my time and energy lately. I had gotten to the point where I would give my time out easily. Then I would be exhausted by Wednesday. That's ridiculous! Even more ridiculous is when you have to squeeze time in to pray and don't even enjoy some of the stuff that you're giving your energy to.

From that God has been teaching me 2 things:
1. Let your yes be yes and your no be no (Matthew 5:37, James 5:12). For me that means, if I know that I don't have the energy to babysit on Friday nights, just say NO. Sure I love kids and have fun hanging out w/ them. But I'm tired by Friday night. Friday night is Blockbuster night w/ some Chinese food in my room. Nobody will die if I can't watch the munchkins. AND, don't say yes w/o thinking and then want to change my mind later. Here's the roadmap for me:

Request is made --> I Stop --> I Think --> I Respond --> I'm doing things that I want to do

2. Be careful how you give away your time and energy. Since we don't earn time or get it in a paycheck every 2 weeks, we have to be careful about what we do w/ the borrowed time that we have. I get work, work, work, work, go, go, go, go, give, give, give, give all day long and think that I'll be fine. I have to STOP, HOOK UP TO A REFUELING SOURCE (prayer, sleep, meditation, worship, hanging out w/ friends, etc.) and get a REFILL. Thankfully, things like prayer and worship and meditation can be refreshing.

Now, I'm being careful about what I say yes to AND what my schedule looks like. For example: Friday nights are Blockbuster nights unless something more fun (but no exhausting) comes along. Saturday nights, I have to prep for Sunday, so no "work" after 5pm.

So yeah, not a lot of deep stuff, but so important. How can I give God my full attention in prayer and worship if I'm distracted by my busyness or the fact that I'm exhausted?

Hope this makes sense. Love ya!