The Greatest Gift...


All too often, I’ve yielded to the temptation to fret about my failure to accomplish more each day.  There is so much to do and learn...  
I aspire to be a more thoughtful and resourceful “helpmeet” to my husband,  a wiser counselor and guide to our young adult children, as they navigate through this momentous season of their lives.  There is yet much more for me to learn, to be a better daughter, wife, mother, teacher, friend and neighbor.

Mastering the art of homemaking, for instance...  Oh to be more skilled at creating a peaceful, clean, attractive, joyful, inviting place of refuge in our home--a nurturing environment where my family can experience a taste of heaven, fellowship sweetly and grow and thrive spiritually.  I have barely scratched the surface of achievement in this noble pursuit.  I love the high calling of God for me as a woman and “mother in Israel.”

Then there is my desire to be a more grateful daughter-one ever striving to return in small ways but few of the countless loving favors done for me all my life by my dear parents.  Now it is my turn to minister tenderly to their needs in their old age.

In addition there is my hunger to be better equipped to serve... the body of Christ, my community...and those precious people near and far that God places in our ministry pathway.  All too often I leave home with my family on a ministry trip feeling grossly unprepared for the task! Oh for more time to prepare and learn and do and give...

I have long been convinced that my morning hours of communion with my Lord are indispensable for me to fulfill the purpose of my creation.  And so I learned years ago not to compromise that time.  However, the pursuit of those worthy goals and high ideals before mentioned has frequently kept me from keeping a mid-day appointment with my Lord for a quiet season of prayer and spiritual refreshment in nature (at the hammock on our hillside).

Recently I read this quote in the footnote of someone’s e-mail:
“The greatest thing we have to offer our people is not our education.  It is not our good ideas.  It isn’t even our gifts and abilities.  It is the fruit of the time we have spent with the Savior, the utterly unique and unparalleled thing that happens when we are simply in His presence.”  B.  Patterson
Days later I came across another statement of the same principle:

“The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.”  
Oswald Chambers
I am no longer tempted to think I am too busy performing critical tasks to keep a mid-day appointment with God.  I’m persuaded it is the greatest gift I can give to those I love. 

“And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.”  Jo. 17:19



Comments

  1. Thanks for that Moma Nebblett! I hope and pray that he continues to teach us all what it truly means to seek him first. I don't want to just know the verse, I want to live it. I want and need to know what it looks like in a tangible way.

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  2. This is beautiful Mrs. Nebblett! This was such an encouragement to me--to never take for granted those precious hours of spending time with God especially midday.

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  3. Mrs. Nebblett, thank you so much for sharing this! I am learning that we can never underestimate the value of that quiet time with God. Oh how we need it... And how I love it. :)

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  4. Wow... the B. Patterson quote went straight to my bathroom mirror! This couldn't have been more perfectly timed. Thank you so much for sharing from the heart.

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