What do you want?

I am one of 12 children. I remember when I was in high school my mom just got plain fed up with all that we were demanding of her so she made a sign. She attached her hand-made sign to a dowel and whenever we approached she raised the sign. 

The sign had three lines written on it:

I want

I need

Buy me

All 3 lines were crossed out.

This was Mom’s declaration that she was tired of hearing these demands spoken and they were henceforth and forevermore struck from the family vernacular.

Can you relate? Do you feel like so many ask so much from you? Here’s some good news! God never tires of our asks! He doesn’t.  So if God doesn’t have a problem with it what is our challenge in asking? Is it that we ourselves don’t know or aren’t sure what we really want?  Even if we don’t know what we want it is what first and foremost drives us.

Do you ever find yourself waking up in the morning and immediately your thoughts are full of what needs to get done, what’s creeping up on your calendar, or some person or situation that is difficult and challenging emerges in your view so that the hours of rest evaporate in nanoseconds?  I know this to be true for me.

So many times, before we even rise from our beds we are pulled to our to-do lists and all we can hear are the voices that insist and demand our attention.

Pausing helps us to find purpose. Let’s take some time to feast on the goodness of the Lord together.

Read Psalm 27:4 – 8 in your favorite translation. Here is mine:

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

David was called “a man after God’s own heart.” Although David could have wanted many things (victory over his enemies, being acknowledged king with a crown on his head), we see him relentlessly return his focus to God. David sought God more than any earthly treasure.

What do you want?

As you ponder this question, consider these other ways of pausing. Choose from the activities listed below to extend your practice of pausing to ponder:

• Absorb Tony Evans music Eternal Springs and beaufiful waterfall view or
• Check out this free app from John Eldgredge called Pause. Its an easy way to pause with God in the midst of your busy day. You can select from 1, 3 , 5 or 10 minutes of pause.

If you could ask God one thing only, what would it be?

What do you want?

It does take pausing to figure that out. I invite you to join me to learn more about developing life-giving rhythms in your day like a pause to help you move to more of what you want. Read more about my cohort of like-minded friends starting on 22 July 2021.