Monday, September 04, 2006

Just what DOES the Holy Spirit do?

I'm constantly amazed at the Holy Spirit and what He does for me. He's like a best friend but way better.

It's thrilling to me how the Holy Spirit guides me in my daily life. He has been my comforter in times when I'm alone and my corrector when I'm being stubborn or lazy.

Daily life is HARD. I'm sure it is for everyone, as the mother of two small children I know it gets hard and tiring for me. There are times when I'm so tired I get, gasp dare I say...cranky. And times when I've cleaned up what seems like millions of messes from my adventuresome toddler that, gasp dare I say...I run out of patience.

So how does Christ's love translate in the daily tasks of life? This is were I'm learning how awesome the Holy Spirit is. He's the one who's beside me while I scrub up messes off the floor. Who's gently encouraging me to be slow, soft and gentle to my little one when I feel like losing my temper. He's the one who whispers the Word to me, gently encouraging me to open my Bible when I'm too tired or lazy to make the effort.

He's the one who points out that I need an attitude adjustment when I become overwhelmed by the small details in daily life. Because daily life sometimes can be hard, that's not going to change so what am I going to do about it?

I'll tell you what I'm going to do with the help of the Holy Spirit. I'm going to live one day at time with the thought upon waking, "what can I do today to show the love of Christ?" Who can I be kind too today? Who needs a smile? Who needs an encouraging word/hug/call/look? Is it my children? Is it my husband?

I'm a missionary in my own home!!! There should never be "time off" from missionary work. When daily life gets hard and I don't feel like being at my best, I'm going to call out to my Father and ask Him for the help He's promised me! Because I can't do it alone, because I'm human and I get tired. He's got to help me show the love of Christ because I can't do it on my own.

2 comments:

eileen said...

Amen. ONLY through the Spirit will we be able to live like that. Methinks I need to pray.

Kristy Dykes said...

What a wonderful thought, that you're a missionary in your own home. It sort of goes along with having a servant's heart. If everyone were this way, what a happy world we'd have. In teaching Joy in Marriage seminars, I often say to women, "If you don't feel like hitting the moon yourself (too tired or whatever), be a missionary to your husband's sexual needs." I say, "If our children are hungry, we feed them. If they're dirty, we bathe them. So if our husbands have a need that only WE can fulfill, we should." Of course, it's not always this way, thankfully! But this happens often in marriages. In fact, in a current issue of Marriage Partnership magazine (or maybe Today's Christian Woman), there's an article about a young woman who didn't want to "do it." She finally prayed about it.

Good point.

Be a missionary in your own home.

What will happen?

God will bless you!