Welcome to another week of our Everyday Jesus link-up. Be sure to link-up below this post, comment on your neighbor’s blog and share with your friends… Because Jesus is everywhere, every day!
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Blackness is all around me. The mechanical sound of artificial rain fills the room. I stand, towering over her, willing my heart to slow because I am sure she can hear it.
My nose itches but I don’t dare scratch it because she detects the slightest hint of movement. My lower back starts to ache and I listen for the rhythmic sound of her breath. For the next two and a half minutes, I argue with myself as I cling to the top rail of the crib. Is she asleep? Can I escape undetected? Wait, did she just squeak? Maybe I should wait another minute or twelve?
I breathe a silent prayer. The time is right. Stealthily, I engage my mama-ninja stills and silently turn to face the bedroom door. Ok, Jesus. I have just four steps to make it out of here undetected by this anti-sleeping, cry-puking tiny human. Please, God in heaven… Make it happen.
One step… Breathe… Ok, so far so good.
Two steps… Halfway there… I can do this.
Three steps… AHHH!! Squeaky board!! I thought I missed it! Please Lord, please.
*Silence*
Ok… Last step… through the door… gently close it behind me… CLICK.
“WWAAAAHWAAWEWEAAAAAHHH!!”
Nooooooooooooooooo, God, noooooo! WHY!?!?
This, my friends, is a slightly melodramatic interpretation of an average night (or naptime) in our household. Although my daughter’s sleep habits slowly continue to improve, she still makes me realize why I need Jesus everyday. Plus, she keeps my imagination fresh, as I get to dream up all sort of fun ideas while I stand/lay beside her crib. “I wish I could morph into something that could just walk through this wall. Or maybe I should get a life-sized mannequin-scarecrow to stand in my place.”
There are literally four steps from my daughter’s crib to the bedroom door. In the daylight, it doesn’t seem so daunting. But on a night she doesn’t want to sleep, it is the equivalent of running a marathon.
It takes planning, patience, practice, and prayer. All of which also are involved in our walk to find daily freedom in Christ. Freedom from sin. Freedom from our own agendas. Freedom from the need to achieve. Freedom from our desire to control. Freedom from our junk in our everyday.
Those are the four steps to freedom in our daily life with Christ.
Plan: In order to experience authentic freedom and peace in Christ, we must live intentionally. We are in relationship with Him, after all. And unlike weeds in the flower garden or mold on back-of-the-refrigerator cheese, relationships don’t grow automatically. It requires effort. So we must plan intentional time in our day to interact and deepen a relationship with God.
Practice: Next, we should put some hands and feet to our plans. Will it involve rearranging our schedule? Or better yet– submitting our schedule to God? Maybe it is a new spiritual discipline or a way to serve or forgiving someone. All of those are excellent practices to establish on our journey to freedom.
Patience: Living joyfully through the freedom of Christ will take patience. We probably won’t get it right the first (or fiftieth) time. But keep at it. God wants this for us and He will help us get there.
Prayer: Cover the whole process in prayer. As we grow and taste more and more of the freedom that is to live under the reign of our loving Savior, the more we will desire to communicate with Him. Plus, it keeps us connected when we lose patience, forget to practice this theory or when our plans fall through.
Do you feel as if you are drinking in Christ’s freedom every day? Or are overlooking it? What does “free in Christ” mean to you? Which of the four steps of freedom do you identify with the most? Leave a comment as you join the conversation.
Take heart, dear readers. God’s freedom is readily available to us in our everyday. We aren’t tied to this world like a mama to her non-sleeping-cry-puking-baby’s crib. Jesus helps us navigate the squeaky floor boards and extra loud clicking door knobs.
He gets us those four steps from the darkness of the bedroom to the light of the hallway where we can finally exhale, revel in His goodness and rest from another day well done.
Free in Him,
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” ~Galatians 5:1 NIV
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