First Things First
I am a born again Christian, a wife, a mother, a homeschool teacher, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a great aunt, a sister in law, and friend. Like everyone, I am but a small speck in the timeline of human history. I rejoice, I mourn, I strive, I succeed and I fail. There is nothing necessarily spectacular about me. You will likely never see my name in a World History text.
However, as a child of the One, True Eternal God of Heaven and Earth, I know that the things I say and do each day stretch out into eternity! Now that IS spectacular. I am secure in knowing my God loves me and will take care of me. I have a purpose knowing that He has given me spiritual gifts that I might serve Him. “For we are His workmanship, created by Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10. How wonderful it is to be God’s child, to know I will spend eternity with Him.
Therefore I have sought to serve God by ministering within the roles, or “many hats” for which I have been entrusted. I can’t possibly wear all the hats I mentioned at once! What to do? At first I tried to organize my hats in order of importance. I put the one I deemed the most important first in line and so on. My Christian hat was first, my wife hat second, my mom hat third and so on. But the urgencies and emergencies of life stole in and my careful order became a jumbled mess! So, I decided to put each hat on a pole and spin it to keep it on the pole. I divided the hats on poles between two hands. I had several poles and each hand and started spinning. If I could only keep the hats spinning they wouldn’t fall! This did not work!! It was not long before I was an exhausted heap on the floor covered in hats!
I went to my Lord for answers. What took me so long? Here is what I learned: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you!” Mt. 6:33 So I took all my hats and put them inside His hat! I have committed to seeking Him first each day by studying His Word, the Bible, and spending time in prayer to Him. I ask Him for wisdom in ordering my day. Before Him I make a plan for the day, all the while acknowledging that “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” Prov. 16:9 As I seek to follow Jesus, my Shepherd daily, I know He only has one thing for me to do at a time. This acknowledgement is my goal, my striving. In my journey of life, I am learning afresh to lean on Him by committing the first fruits of my day to Him. He is first and last on my list and everything in between!
Praise Him!
Karen Twombly
(You can reach Karen at karen@t2chk.org )
