{"id":1245,"date":"2016-03-04T04:04:18","date_gmt":"2016-03-04T10:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/?p=1245"},"modified":"2019-05-17T12:53:42","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T17:53:42","slug":"a-recurring-struggle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2016\/03\/04\/a-recurring-struggle\/","title":{"rendered":"A Recurring Struggle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"3:3:16<\/a>by Lydia Floren<\/p>\n

It happened again. I got distracted, and pretty soon two hours had passed and I still hadn\u2019t spent any time alone with God. Once again, I let other things keep me from meeting Him at the first of my day: an unfinished project, a messy house, calls to make, emails to answer. It is a recurring struggle.<\/p>\n

I am not alone in this recurring struggle.<\/p>\n

C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning.<\/strong> All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving that all back<\/strong>; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in<\/strong> and so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussing and fretting; coming in out of the wind<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can only do it for moments at first. But from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading through our system,<\/strong> because now we are letting Him work at the right part of us. It is the difference between paint, which is merely laid on the surface, and a dye or stain which soaks right through.\u201d
\nWow. Moments of \u201cletting that other, larger, stronger quieter life come flowing in.\u201d . Moments of joy, of peace, of finding perspective, of talking to my best friend. The more I have of these, the more I hunger for them.<\/p>\n

Everything really does fall into place once I take the time to really connect with God, soaking in His love and presence.<\/p>\n

Worth the effort, I think.<\/p>\n

What are your thoughts?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Lydia Floren It happened again. I got distracted, and pretty soon two hours had passed and I still hadn\u2019t spent any time alone with God. Once again, I let other things keep me from meeting Him at the first of my day: an unfinished project, a messy house, calls to make, emails to answer. 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