January 2 - UPward NOT Forward

"Many Saints are content to live like men in coal mines." Typically, I think of contentness as a good and holy attribute. But here the writer is challenging us NOT to be content in our spiritual walk. Spurgeon tells ust to press on toward the goal - just as the apostle Paul said. We need to be content with where God has placed us, our circumstances, but never with our walk to Christ.

Often times, this world can distract us from keeping our focus upward. So much busyness around us, can make our heads drop as we begin to look forward and not upward. It is unavoidalbe and yet resistable.

Continually, at His feet, day by day, we must ask Him to raise our heads and eyes to focus upward. We must weigh every decision in the light of His will. When I wake up in the morning, I am flooded with thoughts of all I have to do...my eyes are forward. But when I take a breath and say, "What will You have me do today, Lord?" He raises my eyes upward. I say, "I will do today what He will have me do." This is freedom from the burden to get it all done. This is how I decide between dishes and storytime. I have come to terms with cleanliness and orderliness. When my children are grown and moved out...my home will be in order. Until then, I will have clean toilets and bed sheets; I will have lots of time to spend with my children, helping them to raise their heads and eyes upward, always upward.