Undivided Attention

"Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" - Ps. 46:10

Yesterday, I had the unusual opportunity of being without responsibility as a lead worshipper... at least from being on the platform, that is. On any given Sunday, my leadership role at our church largely consists of sitting as the concertmaster of our church worship orchestra.

Anyway... We play nearly every Sunday throughout the year, and with few exceptions. Yesterday, the worship orchestra was enjoying a rare morning "off " (meaning that our presence was not required and we were allowed to sit with our families.) For me this meant that I had the opportunity to participate in the entire hour of our small group discussion and could sit through worship with my husband for the entire service. This was a real treat because I usually have to leave my small group time early to tune my instrument (I have a very small window of time before the brass begin to warm up) and prepare for worship. And, sometimes, when the orchestra is not playing, I have been known to sub on a praise team. That also wasn't the case yesterday and that was a very good thing.

I need to have moments when I don't do anything... except listen to God. I need to rest occassionally. That's hard to do when your life's tempo is most often measured in "warp speed." (I actually had a friend tell me recently that she never knew me to not be in a hurry!)



God took advantage of the time when He actually had my undivided attention yesterday and taught me something....

I learned something new from the scriptures when paying attention to the Holy Spirit yesterday and not to the clock or what's next... While sitting in the small group session yesterday, I actually had a light bulb click on about a particular passage that I hadn't ever really thought about until then. (More on that in another post.)

Afterwards, it dawned on me that God probably likes to have my undivided attention occassionally so that He can get stuff through that thick skull of mine. That's when He can take my head that is seemingly filled with silly putty, empty it of the junk inside... and try to teach me something that if I don't manage to get it twisted up will actually have a chance to remotely look like His wisdom.  :)

There comes a time when busyness has to be set aside, and we have to just sit at the Lord's feet and rest for a little bit... and drink in whatever it is that He wants to teach us. And those of us who have large ministry (lay or professional) commitments need to take the time to rest as well. There comes a time when we have to choose carefully how we will spend our time so that we best utilize our time for the Kingdom's sake. Remember -- even Jesus told Martha that Mary had chosen the better part... (Luke 10:38-42)  We need to learn to choose wisely so that we choose the better part as well.

Sometimes God calls us to do that for a season, but sometimes it just means taking a short break -- one that just lasts for a moment. I enjoyed my moment yesterday.