More Than a Checklist

Daily Reading: Genesis 48, Psalm 48, Acts 4, Proverbs 17

Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain.

Psalm 48:1

Last night was the first night all year where I went to bed not having finished my blog for the day.

I did all of the readings in the morning, knew exactly the message God had put on my heart, and yet the day passed without having posted.

I spent time in the morning in worship, took time to pray, but continuing the streak of daily writing slipped through my fingers.

There were multiple times throughout the day where I intended to write, and yet things kept happening. Then, in the evening, my wife and daughter got back from a weekend long volleyball tournament. Naomi and I had a “date night” planned to watch a cute movie and spend time together after several days apart.

It was a nice night.

At 11 PM I remembered that I had not yet blogged. At that moment my first thought was, “I have to keep the streak alive!” Naomi was asleep, I could head downstairs, knock it out, get it posted before midnight and get to bed.

I actually got up and was ready to head downstairs when I felt a small whisper from God.

“Aaron, it is really ok. Don’t let this become a check box. I called you to write for 365 days this year so that we could be closer, not so you could ‘maintain a streak’. Get to bed. Your writing will be here in the morning. I don’t want you to rush your thoughts just to say you did it.”

Our God is truly worthy of our praise.

He is worthy of not becoming a check box that we complete each day to say we did it.

This year has been incredibly life giving. I have loved diving into God’s word, quieting my heart in order to devote time to worship and prayer, and seeing what God has for me on a given day.

Last night I was tempted to turn it transactional. I was tempted to shift from relationship to performance.

Thank you Lord for being a God of grace.

Thank you for being a God that desires relationship over transaction.

Thank you for quieting my heart last night and letting me know that it was really ok to post twice today.

You truly are worthy of worship.

Daily Reflection & Dialogue

When have you been tempted in life to turn your spiritual disciplines and time with God into a box to be checked?