Cobwebs

Right it's time to sweep out the cobwebs and blow the dust off of this place.

I've been gone too long. I've been suffering from a dry spell of late... and I've not been keeping the blog up to date. Sometimes if you just leave things, time moves on around them and they change and move on without you... and they can easily become unrecognisable:

I feel like I've stumbled upon one of my thinking places up Cold Comfort Lane. If I don't go to them for a lengthy period of time, they get overgrown with brambles and I can't use them until they are cleared.

It's a bit like walking back into a church that's been left empty for too long. However, there is a difference between a church that is empty and a church that is deserted. This blog is most definitely not destined to fall into the latter category, not while I still feel it serves a purpose both personally and publicly.

So as we draw nearer to Christmas, I hope to up my work rate somewhat. I need to. I need to get my creative juices in full swing again. I know striving is not the answer... my best inspiration comes from above. However while fire may not come without wind... sometimes you need to rub sticks together to prepare a catalyst for when the divine wind comes. It's not about doing things in your own strength; it's about making sure you are in a position, a frame of mind, to receive what is freely given.

I've had a similar debate about this with people who prefer to remain away from attending church on self-imposed sabbaticals while they wait for revival to come. I maintain that while the race may not be run until God moves... part of discipleship and faithful service to him, is our willingness to be ready. Paul puts it far more eloqouently:

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

So while it's important not to rush ahead and act without God... it is extremely healthy for us to spend time focussing on him, flexing our spiritual muscles so that when the starting pistol sounds, we are off the blocks in the best possible condition. Don't misunderstand me here... I'm not saying we have to slave away or God won't pour out his blessing. We are not the centre, God is... if he needs to do something powerful through us and we still aren't ready despite his prompting, his abundant transforming grace is there for us. My argument is merely that we have the option to choose a beneficial course of action while we wait for God... and not just the freedom to choose a permissive one.

Well, this post was just intended to be a quick wave through the window to get me back into good habits... a toe in the water, but already just the act of sitting in front of a blank screen has borne fruit.

So until next time (and by next time, I don't mean next month), be blessed.