Back to the Basics

Today I finally had all my children together.  It has been three weeks of camp, overnight visits with grandparents, mission trips, and special privileges.  Today I am trying to bring everyone back together.  Everyone is out of sinc - no one knows their chores or even wants to know, much less do them.  I am desperate to get things working smoothly, but time away from our home and family has created some very bad habits.  The physical basics are screaming at me - food, clothes, a clean shelter.  I am desperately needing to parent/retrain the children.  Everyone is tired and grumpy, short with each other, and resistant to join back up with our daily routine.  But I know that God has to come first.  What is His kingdom and His righteousness and how do we seek those things first?

His kingdom  - Psalm 145 speaks much of His kingdom.  One attribute that stands out to me is the eternal nature of His kingdom.  Luke also speaks to the eternal nature of God’s kingdom in Luke 12.  God knows our earthly needs, but verse 33 tells us to “make yourself purses that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys.” What have I done that will last beyond today, or this week, or month, or year?  God alone is eternal and my work for His kingdom is the only thing everlasting.   What can I do today that is of eternal consequence? 

His righteousness - The general definition of righteousness according to my computer is “what is right, or just, or normal.”  But what is right to me is not what is right to everyone.  This verse specifically says to seek HIS righteousness.  We have to have a ruler to measure by, a standard, a set in stone guideline.  Jesus is this.  Psalm 11:7 says ” . . . the LORD is righteous; He loves righteousness.”  If we are seeking His righteousness then we should seek His example in all things.  It is He who sets the standard and it is clearly defined in scripture.  “So the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today.  And it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the LORD our God, just as He commanded us.” (Deuteronomy 6:24-25)  Have I sought to learn more of His standard of righteousness today?  Have I obeyed His commands?

To seek is to search diligently.  To seek first is to make this seeking a priority above all else.  So . . . I am to search diligently, with all my ability and before all other things, for His eternal work for me today and I am to obey all that is commanded.  That is quite a tall order.  Why should I even try?  Because I love my LORD and I long to serve him.  What happens to all those other “basics” that demand my time and attention ? . . . “all these things shall be added unto you.”  God will take care of them - he will  provide the resources needed to accomplish them.  

And He does - day by day, moment by moment.  I seek.  He reveals.  I obey.  He provides.  All that I hope to add to this blog is all that He has provided for me over the past years.  He is unbelievably faithful - even as I fail Him on a regular basis, He is faithful.  As I question and wonder and search, He is faithful.  As I blatantly disobey, He is faithful.  As I grow little by little, He is faithful.  Oh how I love Jesus.  Oh how I love Jesus.  Oh how I love Jesus.  Because He first loved me.

 But now I have to leave this time and enter reality.  I have done first things first.  But what comes next?

As I got up this morning contemplating this question - not even dressed yet, the baby began crying for his breakfast, the 3 year old needed to get up and go potty, the 4 year old needed help getting dressed, the 6 year old wanted to help but couldn’t find his shoes, the 7 year old was reading - oblivious to everything else, and the 9 year old (who had started out well feeding the chickens) was lost in his own thoughts trying to invent something incredible with 2 paper clips, a rubber band, and some leftover cheerios that he found when he was supposed to be cleaning off the table for breakfast.  The oldest three are away from home today.  Hmmmmmm - what are the basics?  The dictionary on the computer says the basics are what is most important, elementary - the starting point, without extra, plain - utilitarian, fundamental, essential, nitty-gritty, the nuts and bolts.  As I listen to my children and assess my day so far it would seem that food, clothing, and a cleaner shelter (so we didn’t have old cheerios for invention projects) would be utmost on my list.  Those things are definitely “basics”, but around here even just the essentials can be overwhelming on some days.  How can I accomplish the physical necessities with grace and love?    My mind goes to a verse in Matthew - 6:33.  Jesus is teaching people about His priorities.  He knows that we need clothes, food, drink, (and a clean shelter).  He tells me not to worry about those things, but to seek FIRST His kingdom and His righteousness, and all those other “basics” will be added to me.  How do I seek His kingdom and His righteousness?  I think it begins with a few minutes on my knees before my Savior.  **If you do not know Jesus as your personal Savior, please consider this the most basic need in your life.**  I must seek God’s wisdom to order our lives and our home according to His plan and purpose.   I must do that now.

Wow.  I have no idea what I am doing.  I titled this blog “back to the basics” because that is my desire - to simplify, to fill our lives with what is most important and to get rid of the excess, the unnecessary, and the undesirable.  I hope to use this blog to record our journey back to the basics.  I’ll be adding more . . . if I can figure out how.  I am not sure that this is a basic.  Whatever happened to pencil and paper?!