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"No matter where I am, your teachings fill me with songs." - Psalm 119:54 (CEV)

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Slipping Away


I struggle to extract myself from the pile of homework I'm buried under

As various professors do their utmost to add to the heap.

I wonder when I'm ever going to get a full eight hours of sleep again,

Think I'd settle for six.

I'm crazy-busy,

Completely exhausted,

And neither of those states of being look like they'll be ending any time soon.

And my alarm still goes off an hour and a half before my first class,

I still get to bed two hours after I start getting ready,

I still take a break in the middle of my day.

I make time to slip away.


He said it last Friday morning,

(After a good discussion we had on the theological leanings of a church we'd gone to two weeks before,

A discussion which followed our 5:45 A.M. two-hour prayer meeting).

He said that the average college student gets up in the morning,

Gets ready,

And goes to class.

The Christian?

Gets up hours before class,

Prays,

Reads the Bible,

Listens to a sermon,

Gets ready,

Goes to class.

Most college students, too, get back to their rooms at night,

Get ready,

Go to bed.

The Christian?

Will not go to bed until he or she has spent time in prayer and in the Word.

No wonder I don't get any sleep.


I've been fighting to make time during the day, too,

To say, "I'll meet up with you after dinner and we can do homework together.

Right now, I need to go listen to a sermon and pray."

It hasn't been easy.

I want to go spend time with people.

I don't want to say "no" to my friends

(And "later" feels a whole lot like "no"),

But I have to remind myself

That I can't love them well

Unless I love God more.

It's not an easy lesson to learn.


It's even harder when I'm buried like this,

When I hardly have time with my friends as it is,

When I'm not getting enough rest,

But it's even worse when I'm not getting my time alone with God.

If I don't have time to be with friends, I feel bad.

I can live with that.

If I'm tired, I have a hard time staying awake.

I can live with that, too.

If I haven't spent some serious alone time with God, my soul suffocates.

I can't live like that.


I meet up with her for dinner.

She asks how the sermon was,

How my walk was,

And I remember not having time to listen to a full sermon,

But listening to two clips,

And only having time to walk my usual ten-minute path three times,

But walking to her dorm

Seeing the setting sun

And all I could think of was,

Revelation 21:22-24

King James Version (KJV)
22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
"No need of the sun"!

And that bounce in my step

That I always seem to catch

Just in time to lose it again

Suddenly returned

And I literally jumped for joy

To know who God is,

And that He is my God,

That I can only claim Him because He first claimed me,

And that is such Grace.

"It was good," I answer.

"Short, but good."


There is never enough time,

There never will be enough time,

But I have to make time.

No matter what.

Even if it means five hours of sleep as opposed to seven,

Even if it means doing homework with my friend for six hours instead of nine,

Even if it means my alarm goes off at 5:15 A.M. once a week

And I drag my half-asleep self out of bed,

Get dressed,

And meet my friends to just pray for two hours.

To be with God?

It's a better use of my time anyway.

Too bad the homework still has to get done at some point . . .


Sorry, no reasons from me today.  So busy and so tired.  Feel free to share yours, though!  I would love to read them . . . someday :) .

(Sylvia's already made it to 10,000!  I only wish I had that kind of time!  If only I didn't have to do homework . . .)
<a href="http://maryschieferstein.blogspot.com/search/label/10000%20Reasons" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitidrfBKBWTHSBiWyh3WMRKjHFgYKk-RxjYB9-uePQb1-uI3t3bjysPnR65zloJJ0LgTqhT5kW70Rk8VOC2utXFUWhGRPIxNCqzZ_9YQryYPMJdj2XpiX0oawLUiMnmxFOeMkmjk3IIA/s320/10000ReasonsButton.jpg" /></a>
Counting in community:




4 comments:

Melody ________________________________ said...

I will be praying for you, girl. :)

Sorry I haven't emailed you back yet, but I guess you wouldn't have had time anyway with all that on your plate. Not that that's a good excuse for me but, anyway...

I'll try to get back with you soon. Until then, you can see me occasionally on Facebook and know that I'm not dead. :)

Mary said...

Oh, thank you, Melody!

Don't worry about it. No, I wouldn't really have time now - I would skim through it but probably wouldn't respond for a few weeks. I'm just so busy! I was up 'til 3 last night (a.k.a. this morning).

Whenever you have time! I enjoy keeping up with you on Facebook, and I'm glad you're not dead.

Christina said...

I've read that Martin Luther once said, "I'm so busy today, I shall have to pray for two hours." Or something like that. I often think, the busier I am, the less time I have to pray. But the opposite is true. Great post!

Mary said...

Thank you, Christina! I've heard it was "I have so much to do today that I must pray for three hours, otherwise I'll never get it all done." I have a hard time living like that. It's so easy for me to get distracted and caught up in everything and just forget, or, as you said, to believe I'm too busy to pray. So much still to learn!

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