Corona Devo 3171

Thud!....  Silence.  
Thud!....  Silence. 

What was that, I wondered?  

Thunder?  But the skies were clear.  

The factory that backs up to our backyard?  ...Not this time.

Thud!....  Silence.  

There it was again and it was coming from our backyard.  

Wait a minute...I know that sound, and I know that distance-interval in between those thuds.

The thud was our middle child, Silas...kicking his soccer ball from about twenty yards out from our backyard goal.  The silence was Silas running to retrieve the kick from the back of the goal net or the side yard, and the next thud was his next shot on goal.  

Thud!....  Silence.  

Thud!....  Silence.  

Thud!....  Silence.  

 

He stays out there shooting for hours.  He loves shooting a soccer ball.  He always has.  He is seventeen years old, and if I had to pinpoint an activity/passtime/passion that has narrated his life...it would be the thud-and-silence of him shooting a soccer ball in the back yard.  That's his happy place.  

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  ~Psalm 139:14

~~~

It's okay to have a hobby or to spend time doing something that we love spending time doing.  The Lord calls us to work, but He also calls us to enjoy life too.

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.  ~Psalm 16:11

~~~

What is our happy place?  What can we spend hours doing...as if it were mere seconds?  

I enjoy many things, but when I have the time, I love to get lost in space and time while cooking.  Baking for a function, meal-prep for our weekly family meals, or just making dinner...I enjoy the kitchen (and its outcomes) so much!  Making food, sharing food with others, and eating food are some of my happiest moments.  

Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  ~Nehemiah 8:10

~~

What makes us smile?  

Relieves our stress?  

What do we "go to" when we have the time and space for it?  

On busy days that bleed into busy nights, when she should be in bed, sometimes I will hear the beautiful stringed melodies of our daughter's violin flowing downstairs from her upstairs bedroom.  For her, there is something relaxing, and peace-giving, and fulfilling about pushing and pulling her bow across the strings...and when she has finished playing a few pieces, she is (temperamentally and mentally) in a new and more fulfilled place.  The violin is one of her "go to's", and it makes her merry.

So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.  ~Ecclesiastes 8:15 

~~~

What makes us merry?  What talent or giftedness or hobby or passion has the Lord planted in our soul for fun?  Or--for us to be more fully the person that He created us to be? 

Has it been too long since we painted/jogged/hiked/sewed/clogged/fished/spelunked/scrap-booked/drummed/juggled/gardened or suduku-ed?

We don't have to "find" our passion...because the Lord knit it into our souls when He made us.  Today is the perfect day to enjoy life, in whatever way God has blessed us to do so.

It might sound like a thud(!) and then silence.  
It might sound like onions sizzling in a frying pan with butter.  
It might sound like violin strings being tickled by a bow.

Enjoy today, however that looks/sounds/seems to each of us.  

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.  ~John 15:11

 ~~~

Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works. (8) Let your garments always be white, and let your head lack no oil. 

(9) Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.  ~Ecclesiastes 9:7-9   

~~~

And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, (24) knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.  ~Colossians 3:23-24

~~~

Lord, help us to enjoy this life that you have blessed us with today.  Too often we crowd out pleasure with the guilty-drive of work and productivity.  Help us to accept AND BELIEVE that You have made us for more...and help us to enjoy and to live life more fully (in Your Name) today.  Amen.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  ~John 10:10

Blessings,

sarah 

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com