Hissing, bubbling coffee percolates nearby, steam rising
from the black appliance top. An airplane drones sleepily overhead as cool breezes
pour through my open windows.
Morning forays into facebook earlier had alerted me to
further uprisings in the Middle East. Clicking to BBC world news, I read and
prayed, scrolling pages.
Wiping kitchen counters, slicing cucumbers, and planning an
apple cobbler, I prayed for the Middle East, coordinated school, and washed
dishes. Daughter draws manga art behind me now, preschooler alternates between
being a puppy and waving swords, and teen son recovers from an aggressive
24-hour virus he caught at his daycare job. We wash hands often now, count the
hours and wait to see if it has infected our home as well.
Sipping fresh-brewed coffee, I ponder newly-found words and
concepts in the ancient biblical book Haggai. In that setting, God-followers
had started strong with some rebuilding work, but after long opposition, they
had stopped, assuming it was not the right time. Several years later, God spoke
to them saying that now was the time to focus on his rebuilding efforts. He
told them to be strong, to give careful thought to their ways, and he said that
he would be with them. Lastly—and I love this—the ancient text writes, “So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, and the spirit of ____ and
the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work
on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, on (Sept. 21, 520 BC).”
Our spirits can be
stirred up by any number of things, some wrongly, some well. It can lead to
good actions or poor actions, as we see so often in the news. This morning, as a multi-tasking mom,
sipping coffee and God’s word, I want to be stirred up by His spirit for His
purposes.
Hi, you. What multi-tasking
projects are you working on today? Where are you reading lately, and what is
God stirring up in your spirit? (From email, click here to join in.)
(Did you see Cabinart's blue coffee cup print framed there? Check out this California artist's site.)