{Muddle | Day 8 of 31}
Ready? GO.
I had to look this word up because it immediately conjures up a picture of someone shuffling along, head down with little or no focus on where they’re going. The definition certainly makes room for that picture to be accurate. Words like confusion, bewilderment, disorganized, and disorder were part of the definition. Then I came to this one: to busy oneself in a confused and ineffective way. Well, then.
That definition landed in my gut with a big thud. Who wants to wake up one day and realize that despite being busy, you’ve been ineffective in accomplishing what you’ve set out to do? But, so many times in my life, I’ve ended up in exactly that spot. Busy. But, perhaps busy with the wrong things. Or busy with the right things, but going about it all wrong rendering my efforts ineffective. Am I the only that cringes at the possibility? Can I be vulnerable with you for a moment? It’s one of my biggest fears — ineffectiveness. I do not want to waste the time I’ve been given, nor do I want to waste what God has put in my hands to do while I’m here. So, what then, as a believer in Christ, can I do to guard against getting caught muddling along through my days? It’s oh so easy to do in the midst of dirty laundry, carpool lines, grocery shopping, and all the dozens of other things I have to do in a day. But, here’s something:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing songs, and hymns, and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:16-17, ESV)
Don’t muddle. Live with intention. Do you see it? We don’t have to compartmentalize God. And we don’t have to buy into the lie that we can only be effective for Christ if we’re doing something extraordinary. So maybe it comes down to asking this question: Am I representing Christ the very best that I can in any given moment? Just asking the question keeps me accountable.
I love how Eugene Peterson says it in The Message paraphrase: So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. (Romans 12:1-2)
Yeah. That’s what I want. How about you?
STOP.