God calls us not to be successful but.....

A variety of thoughts are in my head this morning, no particular order, just ramblings.  I am terribly excited for the prospect of and hope for the future.   It's amazing to me how quickly time is passing - that it should be the end of May already is unbelievable - where has the time gone? The next several months are going to be busy as well.  So I pray for balance, for time well spent, for my husband who is incredibly supportive and patient, but most of all, I pray for God's leading in my life.  My prayer lately has become "God, I need your help."  

God has a sense of humor as he answers that prayer.  For instance, time disappears for me when I am at the computer, answering emails, organizing, drafting, planning.  While all that is necessary and helps me to begin to prioritize, computer work can also be an area of weakness for me.  God is telling me that I haven't been maintaining my relationships very well.  That I am putting what should be secondary first.  God started out first by just putting on my heart that I wasn't following through well in some of those relationships, that maybe I was relying too heavily on others to understand and forgive.  While I listened and felt guilty, I didn't change much.  So then God kept hammering this guidance into me through a variety of devotions I have read, a variety of messages I have heard, through staff meetings, through tears.  And I began to realize my priorities were out of alignment with God but I still needed help.  So what did God do but to take away the computer!  It is amazing how much time is freed up and how many more personal contacts I have made as a result.  Have I learned the lesson?  Probably not thoroughly because well, here I am, writing on my son's computer.  But I have learned an important lesson and am grateful to God that God has answered in part my prayer for help.   

Other times God has "stretched" the time in the day; other times God has brought individuals to help me, individuals I hadn't asked but came to me voluntarily; other times God has specifically reminded me through others' definite words - you cannot do it all.  

No one Christian can do all that God intends, that's why the Body of Christ is so large and diverse.  And no one part of that Body is more important or less important than another.  Most promising of all is that God works through everything -good, bad, good intentions, mistakes, our inadequacy.  God works on me as an individual as well as on God's creation.  The actions of one have impact on actions for many and eventually on the results for all.  It is a great thing that God is everywhere at all times, handling the big picture while we go about activities that seem maybe inconsequential or unimportant or well-intentioned but not followed through well.  

I am reminded of this:  God calls us not to be successful but to be persistent.