“You don’t bring me flowers, you don’t sing me love songs; you hardly talk to me anymore….”
– Neil Diamond
Thank you, Lord, for another day. I need to check my email. What will I fix for dinner? It’s such a beautiful day outside. Why am I trapped inside an office? Am I ready for the meeting? I forgot about the towels in the dryer.
Random thoughts race through my head as I multi-task through another busy day. A plethora of sounds, images, memories and desires crowd my jam-packed mind, jockeying for priority.
This is my day. Every day. Somewhere between “Thank you, Lord,” and the towels in the dryer, a million thoughts interrupt my morning.
I used to meditate. I could sit still and pray for endless periods. I used to lie on the beach, reading a good book. But in the illustrious words of Neil Diamond, “used to be’s don’t count anymore, they just lay on the floor ‘til you sweep them away.”
More often than not, I find myself wishing for the days that used to be. I wonder when I became too busy to have a “do-nothing day.” Some days I am Super Woman, saving the entire planet on my own – zipping around the globe in nanoseconds, trying to maintain a balance between my duties, obligations and desires.
In the midst of my rambling, I have simply lost focus. I have perfected the art of time management, squeezing 27 hours into a day. The problem? I have placed or, rather, misplaced some items into the added three hours, items that should have been part of the first three hours.
First, on the “neglected” list is spending quality time with God. What made me think that I could do all these things, and not have time for God?
I’ve been so busy doing ministry work here and there, running a business, meeting up with friends, hanging out with my family, and trying to make a few greenbacks, that I have neglected to spend quality time with God. I miss Him.
I wonder. Does God miss me as much as I miss Him? I think He does, because He has taken to waking me up at odd hours of the morning to have a dialogue with me. I believe He knows it is the only time of day I will be available for Him.
He reminds me of the blessings He brings every day, and that He loves me, and wishes I would spend a little more time with Him. He gently reminds me that, although there are beautiful roses just outside my door, “I don’t bring Him flowers – anymore.”
Judith Falloon-Reid is the founder of ByHisWord Outreach Ministries and host of Gospel Rhythms, South Florida’s Gospel Entertainment TV Show, which airs weekly on Comcast. For more information about Falloon-Reid and Gospel Rhythms, log on to www.gospelrhythms.org.
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