Cool Down

As I was finishing up my run/walk adventure around the neighborhood this morning, I looked down and found a loose shoelace taunting me with its intention of being completely untied at any moment.  I paused the "Couch to 5k" app I was using, tied the shoe and kept walking.  I had finally reached the cool down phase of my workout -- my absolute favorite part -- when I noticed the need to pause the timer and tie my shoe.  Well in my haste to get on with my morning, I realized that I never restarted the timer after tying my shoe, so by the time I thought I had reached the end of my workout, I looked down to find I still had 3 minutes left!  My first response was irritation -- which is so silly, but true.  I thought I was finished and here are 3 more minutes to go, but my next thought was maybe I do need 3 more minutes of a cool down!  This simple illustration just struck my heart this morning with the idea that I so often seek to rush ahead and strive to do things on my own without pausing in the "cool downs" God provides me.  And how sometimes the things I need the most are the things I struggle against.

This verse has been on my mind all week and I find as I seek to do what God wills for my life, I too often overlook the one thing I should focus on -- God is doing the work in me!  I find myself struggling with trying to determine if I am following His footsteps in the way He wishes, but if I will put my focus and trust in God and find rest in Him, His guidance will be a natural outpouring of our life together.  The enemy strives to take my focus away from God each and every moment.  The worst part is I don't recognize what is happening until after my focus has been so riddled with stress and anguish that I forget where my focus was intended in the first place.  

Praise God for His grace and forgiveness.  Praise God for the peace He provides.  Praise God for the love He has for each of us.  Praise God for the ways He desires to use us for His glory.  Praise God.