Love him more.

Ah Monday. Here we are again.

Last week was a long one. Once Friday hit though, I was happy. Justin golfed in the morning, we had dinner with friends, and Saturday was spent watching college football. Relaxing, yeah, that's what it was. Very relaxing. Sunday we went to church, had a nice lunch, watched some more football and went to our Community training at church Sunday night. It was a refreshing time, and I spent some good time in the word.

During the week, like most people, I am busy, keeping up with laundry, cleaning the house, cleaning up after a three year old and one year old, playing with a three year old and one year old, and various other things like running errands and cooking. These things seem to take precedence over my time with God too often.
I was hoping to start off Monday with a bang! Ready to go. It started with a bang alright, a banging, throbbing headache.
Oh boy.
I am tempted to go into complain mode, and list off all the things I really do not want to do this week, but instead this week I find myself wanting to be in the word. To focus on Christ and his goodness. To nip that bad attitude before it starts, to be ready for whatever life throws my way because I have spent time with God, in his splendor, glorifying his goodness and can glorify him amidst whatever is going on in my life.
Isn't it so easy to cry out to God when we are sad, hurting, and needy? I find that it is most times for me. Times when I am really down, feeling lost, feeling hopeless I then cry out to God and ask, beg for his mercy, his help his guidance.
Um, Hello?
Does anyone else see the problem here?
I am ashamed (as I should be) to admit that lately I have been tending to ignore God until I need him. Well, how in the world can I expect to grow, to encourage others, to be encouraged, to give him the glory he deserves, to be happy? No matter what there will be ups and downs in life, but we need to love God and get to know him more ALL the time. Not just when we need him to comfort us.
In life we look for happiness in all the wrong places, we all do it, in different ways. Whether in things, in our homes, in our beautiful gardens, in our rockin' car, in our husband, in our children, in our work, in whatever it may be when the ONLY thing that can truly satisfy us in every way is Christ. I mean that should be so obvious. None of those other things are perfect. Our homes come with it's problems, perhaps a leaking roof or broken kitchen drawer, in our gardens sometimes all our plants do not always flourish, our cars get a flat tire, or in a fender-bender, our husband and our children will disappoint us, but Christ, Christ will NEVER disappoint. He is perfect! The only perfection we can have in our lives.
I came across this quote awhile back and I think it is very encouraging.

"I cannot bear it—that we should love Jesus little. It seems to me horrible. Not to have your heart all on fire for Christ—this is execrable! Let us love him to the utmost. Let us ask him to give us larger hearts, and to fire them with the flame that is his own, that we may love him to the utmost possibilities of affection."- Charles Spurgeon.

I encourage you today to be in his word, to be thinking and mediating on him so that you may be satisfied in him and more importantly that he may be glorified no matter what.