I have had a wonderful Christmas break here in Indiana. I’m home with my entire family and we were blessed with fourteen inches of snow the day after Christmas. We built two amazing snow forts and had a great snowball fight. I awoke to another three inches on the ground yesterday. It has been truly relaxing and wonderful to be around snow again and I have enjoyed every moment.
A fair statement would be that I LOVE snow a lot! There’s only one problem with so much snow and that is getting prepared to be in the snow. You have boots, snowsuits, scarves, gloves and hats that must be placed properly so you can truly enjoy snow without any issues. You have the duty of preparing for the snow alongside the desire of playing in the snow. So, do you think the duty of getting ready to play outside stopped me and my desire of playing in the snow? No, not at all. The duty actually helped in building the anticipation of what the snow would be like.
I looked forward to the fort building as I zipped up the snow suit. I looked forward to the snowball fight as the boots were put in place. Sledding down the hill by my old middle school brought excitement as I put on my gloves. It was a lot of work, but all that work paid off as I rolled down the hill and enjoyed the view of the covered trees above my head and wasn’t even cold.
With God, we have to balance our desire with our duty at times. I don’t always feel like doing my devotions. Some days they feel more like a duty; something on my to-do-list. But, I find when I do that “duty” my desire is ignited more for God. That to-do-list just fueled the fire for my relationship with God. It allowed me to learn more about Him. I learned how much He loves me, how much He desires to protect me and how much He wants a personal relationship with me. God desires me! He desires me so much that He sent His Son into the world as a baby. I praise God He never looks at me as a duty but as a true desire.
© 2012 Susan M. Sims
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I really needed to be reminded today of the importance of just “doing some things” as a way of building excitement / desire for the greater bigger experience. Just making the cup of hot tea or coffee in preparation to sit down to read or write builds that motivation to jump in later on or stick with it when watching TV or checking that really important thing on the internet (which I can even recall the next day) begs for a diversion.
I find at times we allow the “duty” to prohibit us from even starting some things in life. Unfortunately, if we allow that to happen we will never fully have our desire!