Leaving a Little Space

Colin and I have been attending our church now for four years.  We had been visiting for a few months the fall of 2010 and finally decided in January of 2011, on our church's first anniversary, that we definitely wanted to call it our church home.  I'm pretty sure Colin still believes that the sermon we heard that January morning was the best sermon our pastor has ever given.  
This last weekend, at the end of our Pastor's fifth anniversary "State of the Church" sermon he asked all of us congregants a pretty great January question: "What is one step that I could take to grow as a disciple this year?"  In light of that, what is one thing I can do today?" 

Be still.  Slow down.  Choose to renew your mind in TRUTH each day.

The answer came to my mind (or maybe my heart?  Sometimes those are still a little tricky for me to differentiate) almost immediately.  Thats not terribly common for me.  When it comes to resolution-style decisions, short of "eat healthier, exercise, lose weight"- a common theme of the last 10 years- I'm a think-it-over kind of girl.  But there was no thinking over this answer on Sunday.  I've felt a definite pull in the last month or so toward the decision to reevaluate my commitments, say yes a little less, and make sure I'm leaving a little space in between to focus on what really matters to me.  I love my friends, my bible study, my community group, taking Adelaide to playgroups and gymnastics, and getting ready for another little girl to come into our family, but I don't do any of those things well when I don't make space in my day for Truth- for reading God's word, meditating on the words in that bible, applying them to my life, praying in deep gratefulness for Gracious Mercies that are new every morning (or every moment), and taking my frustrations and burdens to the only One who can truly give me peace about them.  All of those things can take 10 minutes, or 2 hours, depending on the time I want to commit to it, but even the 10 minute days just seem to have a serious shift in the way I react or respond to people and circumstances around me.  

So for the last few days, and the next few days, I'm spending that time really studying what "Renewing my mind" looks like.  The time I spend meditating on the bible doesn't really make a difference if I don't apply it to other parts of my day, and that application is, I believe, what the process of renewing our mind (learning to remember and think about the teachings of Jesus) means. 

I think the best place to start with thinking about renewing my mind is Romans 12:2. 
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." (NIV)

I actually love the NLT translation of this verse: "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."

(Credit)

Changing the way I think....yes, please.  I am SO caught up in the behaviors and customs of this world!  Left and right, over and over, I see how I make decisions based on what the world calls successful- whether its what I choose to wear (generally pretty innocent conforming) or how I parent my daughter (which can get pretty ugly when I'm parenting her so I'll look like a good mom, and not because its truly beneficial to her heart- those get fuzzy real quick).  I've tried to change those myself and it never works very well or for very long.  I'm praying today that God will continue to do that work in me.  I'm praying He will be transforming me into a new person by transforming the way I think.  I'm praying He'll do that today in very small but specific ways, whether being more gracious to my husband about dirty dishes or letting the laundry wait until tomorrow in order to put my productivity rating aside and love someone well.  Want to pray that with me?