You Were Always On My Mind

On Wednesday of this week, I had a DAY.

We’ve all had days like this, right? One where you’re in overdrive before your feet hit the bedroom floor and you move like a relay baton from one responsibility to another with barely time to sip your coffee or check your watch.

It was late and dark when I slipped behind the wheel of my car to drive home. Alone and quiet for the first time since 5:30 am, I suddenly realized it had been hours since God had entered my thoughts.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that’s an unusual occurrence for me. I wasn’t overwhelmed with guilt or anything as much as I was struck at the occasion of having hours pass by where I wasn’t mindful of God.

I didn’t like it. When I thought back on my day, it felt flat and two-dimensional, like reverting to black and white in a Technicolor world.

At home again, I opened up to Psalm 10 which was my scheduled Bible reading for the day and read this passage:

“2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
who are caught in the schemes he devises.
3 He boasts about the cravings of his heart;
he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.
4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.”

In all his thoughts there is no room for God.


Wow, right?

I know this is true but I can hardly fathom what it is like to live one’s life in such a way that in all your thoughts there is no room for God!

Since I was young, it’s been a priority for me to live with as much thought given over to God as is humanly possible. Through the years I’ve tried all kinds of programs and methods. Some with better results than others but I kept trying. Part of the secret has been in crafting a lifestyle that allowed time for God. That takes work and conscious decision making.

Wednesday was a warning shot for me.

I’m entering a new phase of life. Soon I will be an empty nester and I’m investing more time in my work at the Y and in writing. Once again, I need to go forward giving careful thought to building time for God into the fabric of my day.

Part of that, I can see from Wednesday, will be to see my car much as medieval monks viewed their prayer cells. Here is a place I can find silence in the midst of busy-ness and read or listen to God’s word even if it’s only for a moment. Even a Toyota can become a tent of meeting!

Even though Wednesday was unusual for me, it was a reminder that the danger is ever lurking. That no matter how long I’ve followed Jesus, no matter how much scripture I’ve read or how many prayers I’ve prayed – each new day brings opportunities and snares.

Most troubling for me is this idea of all those people walking around with no room for God in their thoughts. In all their thoughts there is no room for God.

There’s a starting place for prayer – right? Prayer that people would make room in their thoughts for God.

And all the more reason for us to be prepared for those moments when they do.