Do you take things for granted? Do you assume they will always be the way they are? Do you assume things will get better as you get older? Are you of the mind that nothing bad will ever happen to you? How is your relationship with God?
We often don’t realize what we have until we no longer have it. We’ve likely heard that phrase or something like it before. It’s a phrase that has been around so long it has become cliché. Yet, that doesn’t make it any less true.
This point is driven home when one of our loved ones becomes deathly ill or seriously injured or they pass away. All of a sudden, we are sorry for many things we’ve said and done. We wish we had done that one good thing we planned for them, but never got around to. Our minds will race with thoughts of why we took our loved one for granted. We will beat ourselves up and, perhaps, vow to never take anything or anyone for granted again…then tomorrow comes.
The fast-paced world we live in demands our attention at all times. The demands come from our jobs, our friends, our family, social media, and television. There are numerous tactics used to gain our attention, as varied as the source from which the demand comes. Perhaps it’s to ask a question, ask us to do something, or attempt to entice us to purchase something. Sometimes, it’s simply to draw our attention with no other motive other than to fill our time.
Though much of these attention gainers are designed to pull us into their sphere of influence, not all are frivolous. Some properly attempt to educate us and prepare us for a prosperous future. These are the ones we should pay particular attention to. Gaining knowledge and wisdom can improve our lives.
Despite the positives that can come from education, we all need to spend quiet time with God. This runs contrary to our entertainment and consumer culture. It is when we spend quiet time with God that we calm ourselves and can hear God speaking to us. It is in these quiet times, especially when spent in prayer, that we gain insight to what is truly happening all around us and where God wants us to go. As we see in today’s passage, Jesus had the apostles go with Him to a quiet place to rest. We all need the rest that God will grant us in the quiet.
I pray we all seek to spend quiet time with God. I pray we look for opportunities to escape the hustle and bustle of this world. I pray each of us spend quiet time in prayer, asking God to reveal Himself to us. Don’t take people or things for granted. Realize God has put them in your life for a reason. Seek the wisdom of God in quiet time. Ask God to show you what He has planned for you. Seek quiet and rest from God.
Mark 6:31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
Marty Pressey 