Congratulations to Megan, the winner of our recent giveaway!

I just found a post that I wrote this past summer but never published.  It’s appropriate for right now too, with the crazy election and bizarre virus and looming holidays and uncertainty on every hand.

Here it is, written a few months ago: 

Steve and I have been reading books together in the mornings. Often we’re joined by one or two of our little people; sometimes it’s just us and our coffee and the birds and squirrels running around our yard. 

Recently Steve read me a chapter by Frances Ridley Havergal* called “Our Moments Kept for Jesus.” It’s rare to read something that kind of revolutionizes your life, don’t you think? That’s actually what this chapter did for me.

Pause and consider– a moment of time.

It’s impossible to have a divided heart in a moment of time, she states.

What a striking thought. Either I’m serving my Master in any given moment, or I’m not. No in between. No flip flopping. In a moment, the choice has gone down.

It’s a moment I can never get back again. Once it’s spent, it has either been invested for Christ’s kingdom, or it hasn’t. No in between. I’m not talking about spending all our moments on high “spiritual” activities, either, because laundry must be done, meals must be prepped, and toddlers must be prevented from drinking out of the toilet. I totally get that.**

This concept has helped me in times of frustration, discouragement, fear, anger, disappointment. I can change my focus in a moment, with the Lord’s help. I can look unto Jesus with eyes of faith. I can smile, I can take a deep breath, I can get my eyes off myself and onto the One who has it all in control.

In moments when bitterness or self pity wells up, I’ve found myself being quickly reminded of this truth. Will I change my direction in that moment? Or will I wallow in self-focus, which is nothing but a a downward spiral into a bottomless pit?

Moments flow into days. Days flow into years. Years flow into a life. A life lived, for whom? A life invested, for what cause? We must choose in the moments. Beginning right now, in this moment.

“Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise.”♥

*Frances Ridley Havergal is the author of the beloved hymn “Take my Life and Let it Be.” In this devotional book (“Kept for the Master’s Use”) she goes through that hymn, line by line, and expounds upon each concept. She certainly didn’t write it lightly! She teaches in detail the ideas expressed by each phrase in that hymn. This book has been both a challenge and a joy to our hearts.

**Here is a post I wrote a few years ago about what it means for the homemaker to be advancing the kingdom of Christ in this world.