Day 3: This Day, This Moment, This Breath

I have this pep talk with myself from time to time. It goes something like this.

"Carol, you're so lazy and selfish. What would happen if you woke up and realized, that you were CREATED for this day, for this moment, for this breath in time? You were created by the God of the freakin' universe to do something, not for yourself, but for Him. So how's about you quit thinking about yourself so dang much and start living like you were created for a purpose?"

I say this to myself because at my core, I am lazy, and I am selfish, and I think if you look too closely into my life, you'd find it's true. I filter just about everything through how it will affect me, how it will affect my life, my finances, my marriage, my home, my workload, my desires, my future, my retirement, my sleep.

And when I get to the point where I really just can't take "me" anymore, I have the pep talk.

I had the pep talk today. What prompted it was that I was awakened early. I believe by God. He gets up early a lot. (Maybe He's on so many timezones simultaneously that He forgets which one I'm on.) Anyway, I woke up early, prompted to read my Bible, and all I could think of was, "really God? I have this one day that I can sleep a little bit later, no kids to awaken, no breakfasts or lunches to fix, and You wake me up earlier . . . to read?"

And that's when I had the talk.

And here's what I read this morning. In Leviticus no less (the Lord woke me up to read Leviticus!) Chapter 22. "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to Me, so as not to profane My holy Name. I am the Lord."

Gulp.

All that to say, I will have to spend a lot of time praying through that one, but a quick glance tells me that I am not being careful with the holy gifts that God has entrusted to me. I was indeed, created for this day, this moment, this breath in time. And I better be careful with it.