Do you ever feel like you are just 'surviving' day by day, going through the motions, living out a meagre existence by making food, cleaning house, caring for kids, doing laundry, and going to bed, only to wake up and do it all over again?
Lately, I've been wondering what happened to my 'zest'. So much has transpired lately that I am a little overwhelmed... and getting a bit depressed over it all. It is sad, really, that my world has turned into this 'bubble'. I have been running day in and day out on the immediate. What needs to happen now, in this little blurb of time, for my little immediate family.
I am not meant to live in a bubble.
You are not meant to live in a bubble.
We are so much more than our immediate area of life shows. There is so much we cannot see that we are interwoven into! But how effective am I if I do not do what I can?
And what can I do? The political realm is beyond my control. I can vote, sure, but who I vote for doesn't usually make much difference (or so it seems. I will still exercise my right and my duty to vote, regardless of any change I see it making). I find myself falling into a state of despair when I realize what my government wants to do, and how that will affect our country as well as the global scale that it impacts.
Then there is news about suicides, deaths, little children killed by their loved ones, people dying from vaccines or from no vaccines, health and wellness things gone wrong, accidents, and just so much bad news in general that it makes my head swim, and me want to climb into my bubble and hide for the rest of my life.
But that is not what I am called to do.
I am to pray. Yes, pray. Sometimes, it seems so small. What can my prayer possibly do? What can one person praying for someone I don't even know personally really change? But we are called to pray. We are called to live lives of faith. And I have faith that my Father knows the needs of this country, the needs of the world, and the needs of individual people more than they or myself could ever hope to know. And he is faithful. He will listen to my prayers. He wants us to pray. He can do whatever He wants without our prayers, but as children of the most High, we are CALLED to pray, to make intercession for others, to lay out our hearts and minds to the Father.
We are only useful in the hands of our God. A hammer is not doing much as it sits on a table. It can have the brightest handle, the shiniest head, but if it is more concerned about it's appearance, and doesn't wish to be used lest it be dinged up, or have paint wear off, or the head come off the handle and need repair... what good is it? It is nothing more than a 'good looking hammer'. We need to hammer in those nails. And it isn't us doing it, either. That hammer, sitting on that table, does nothing unless it is in the hands of a skilled craftsman. In the hands of our maker, we can do great things! And each nail, on it's own, doesn't look like it's doing much. Put one nail in a chair, and from the perspective of the hammer, it's just a nail going into a block of wood. But keep going, keep putting in nails one by one, and after a while, you will see a sturdy chair. The hammer didn't do any of it on it's own, but it was used. It was in the hands of the creator. And the end result is amazing.
I just need to remember... I am but a tool. By myself, I am nothing. Each prayer I pray may seem little more than a single nail in a block of wood. But I may not be able to see the big picture until it is done. And each prayer goes up to God in faith. He knows what to do with them. He knows how to use me. He knows. I just need to be available.
Lord, thank You for being bigger than I am. I am sorry I have not been praying as I should. I have been consumed by my own little life bubble, and while spending time and effort in those things isn't bad, it also isn't enough. My life is meant to be more than just my little bubble. Thank you for being here, for being the one in control, and please use me. I am but a tool that can do nothing without Your hand.
