Learn to Linger

Isaiah 26:7-8 (MSG)

"We're in no hurry, God.  We're content to linger in the path sign-posted with your decisions.  Who you are and what you've done are all we'll ever need."

This is so not how I do life.  This call to slow down and linger just seems like it goes against the very fiber of my being.  At it's root, it's a call to contentment.  A call to trusting God and His decisions and His timing.  A call to need Him and ONLY Him.  Not just to need Him but to desire Him, and Him alone.  A call that I know is right and worthy but yet so hard for me to heed.  As I flip through the pages of my calendar/planner from the past month, I am reminded of the constant movement of my day-to-day life.  There is very little lingering.  Not even over my beloved cup of coffee in the morning, because I'm usually gulping it down in between 20 other tasks.  We jump from one meeting to the next.  One conversation to the next.  One e-mail to another.  Our phones are constantly pinging with a new message to respond to.  Even when the days are sunny and Benjamin and I go outside to enjoy the weather, we are bouncing from one end of the property to another.  He chases the chickens and I pull up weeds.  I feel a race against the storm clouds in the distance or the day light waning.  

So, at the beginning of May I attended a women's retreat for other missionary women.  Each afternoon we had hours of free time and I was forced to be still and linger.  Oh, but the planner in me, came prepared!  I brought a book to read, cards to write, my very own little checklist of things to do!  Not to waste a minute!  I mean, imagine all the things I would be able to get done without a toddler underfoot or a husband interrupting!  Needless to say, God gently reminded me to simply be with Him.  The checklist can wait.  How about just sitting and slowly sipping a coffee with Him?  And of course it was good and refreshing and I thought, I need to make this a habit.  I need to sit and linger with my Lord more!  But then the conference is over.  You get in the car and there's a child crying.  The e-mails and messages you ignored while at the conference are all piled up, waiting for you.  Your husband didn't do any laundry or grocery shopping.  That small amount of time of lingering seems to have backlash.  Sure, you rested for 3 days, but now your normal tasks have increased because you need to "catch up".  I wonder, was it worth it?  But this verse in Isaiah is saying not just to linger and slow down but to be CONTENT.  As I look at my planner for the next weeks/months, there is no sign of life slowing down.  In fact, this is our "busy" season as we approach outreach camps.  So, I am challenged by this verse.  How to put it into practice.  How to be content amidst the crazy.  How to say (and mean it) "Who you are and what you've done are all I'll ever need".  In a practical sense (because I'm a practical person) maybe it means leaving Benjamin in his crib for an extra 20 minutes so I can sit down and drink some coffee and read my Bible.  Making my lists but then saying, "Ok, God, what do YOU want me to do today?"  

My energizer bunny

Full house celebrating Mother's Day!