Do Be a Good Do-Be....

Life seems to be racing forward despite it being the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer in Kansas. We’ve had unprecedented rain causing a prolonged harvest and muggy temperatures clinging doggedly to the 100 degree mark for weeks. The only thing that sounds enticing is laying in an airconditioned room under a ceiling fan sipping a frosty iced tea and reading a good book! And there are some great Christian fiction selections out there. So many books…..so little time for someone who loves to read yet knows there are other more important things to do in life. It’s just all so serious, you know.

So how are you spending your summer? Are you someone who has a summer “to do” list of keeping up the house and summer projects or do you hit vacation mode as soon as the thermometor creeps up and you flip the calendar page to June?

I’m a little of both and this summer I’m struggling to find the balance between all I want to do and all I need to do. As usual, I struggle with the “should’s”–all the things that a woman like me should do. I should schedule date nights with my husband. I should have a spotless house. I should set aside a time to connect with friends. I should lose 10 or 20 or 30 lbs and eat right and exercise every day. I should read my Bible at least 30 minutes a day and pray 30 minutes a day and ……you get the picture.

The common denominator in those things is them being all about the doing and less about the being.

Have you asked yourself about that lately? What is it that Christ asks of us? Is it running around doing, doing, doing? Or is He calling us to come away to just be with Him?

Don’t get me wrong. I know we are to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We are to go and do likewise. So what was it that Jesus did?

He healed the sick. Gave to the poor. Touched the lepers. Hugged the children. Spent time with His father so He knew what the father would have Him do at every moment. And He rested. His life was filled with love and laughter. He didn’t strive. He lived in the moment. He loved the Father and He loved people. He calls us to do likewise.

Quite different than my “to do” list where it is all about a religious life check list instead of time with the Father. God may want me to do some of the things on my list, but I’ll never know that if I don’t spend time with Him.

In my quiet time, He brought me back to Matthew 6:25: This is why I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?”

I realized that I spend a lot of time thinking about those things….”What should I fix for supper? What should we eat? Is it good for me? Is it fattening? Do these pants make me look fat?”

Wow. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Jesus goes on to say that idolaters seek those things even though the Father knows we need them. Instead He calls us to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness and then all these things will be provided for us.

It’s an upside down Kingdom. He wants us to be His followers. He wants us to be holy. He wants us to be in His Kingdom. But we don’t get that through the doing of good works. We get it through being adopted into the family of God through Jesus.

And then comes the doing. Out of the overflow of His love, we love others. Out of our gratitude for all He has done, we do for those He loves.

It is the perfect counterpoint for feeling as if I’m not doing enough during these lazy days of summer. So I’ve decided not to be a good Do-Be as Miss Fran asked us to be on Romper Room. Instead, I’m going to look for ways to love God and love people. I’ll be a Be-Do instead! Being His Beloved. Being His Child. And out of the overflow of that love where He first loved me, I’ll do some things that are good for me and my hubby and those He has given me to love in my world.

How about it? Want to Be-Do with me?

Blessings,

Kim

Do Be a Good Do-Be....

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