Tis the season for reliance

"summer is near"

Matthew 24:32

June is a fun and funny and weird and exciting month of the year for me.  School is trying to wrap up for the summer.  By that I mean that we really don't stop school in the summer.  We go year-round here in our humble li'l homeschool.  But we slow down in the summer, take it a little easy.  But the kids have finished or are close to finishing in certain subjects, and I need to start looking ahead to make sure I have the textbooks they need for their next grade.

And in Bible Study, though we take a break for the summer, I have responsibilities.  I help run the class, so there are a few meetings and a few decisions that have to be made over the summer. 

So even while I'm celebrating the slowing down of my schedule, it's necessary for me to look ahead.  There is planning to be done, and action to take once I've done the planning.  And I'm very aware that the energy needed is not coming from me.

'Cause I get tired this time of year.  Sometimes it feels like all I want to do is stop thinking about school and sports and responsibilities entirely.  Not to mention having to make dinner every night.  But that's impossible.

So I've come to like the feeling of dependence I have, on Him.  I like being reminded that I can't do everything ~ or anything ~ I need to without Him.

A few years ago, in church on Sunday, our worship leader started the first song of the morning, after asking us to stand, and nothing happened.  It's a fairly small church, and I guess fairly casual, and so he just stood there, talking through his mic to the guys in the sound booth, as they tried to figure out why his mic was working, but not his guitar.  I'm sure they tried pushing a few buttons, or pulling a few levers, or whatever they do in there.

Until he looked down and realized his guitar wasn't plugged in.

Now, of course, he could still have played the guitar without it being plugged in.  But it wouldn't have been as powerful.  Only those closest to him would have benefitted.   But when it's plugged in, he has the ability to bless far more people. 

I could still accomplish things if I weren't asking God to lead me and strengthen me.  But I can be much more effective, and feel much stronger if I'm staying "plugged in".  My daily efforts are daily reminders that I need Him!

~ "When my heart is overwhelmed;

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I" ~

Psalm 61:2

~

Answers to yesterday's quiz:

1.  (a) 30 years  (Luke 3:21-23)
2.  (a) Ravens (1 Kings 17:3-6)
3.  (c) Bricks (Exodus 5:7,16)
4.  (b) Talent (2 Chronicles 36:3)
5.  (c) Levi (Genesis 6:10)
6.  (b) Gideon (Judges 6:39)
7.  (a) Depths of the sea (Micah 7:19)
8.  (b) Omega (Revelation 22:13)
9.  (d) Bethsaida (John 1:44)
10. (c)Bed (Matthew 9:6-7)