It sounds so good, so righteous, so "spiritual" to say to one another, "Walk in the Spirit!" or "Walk in the ways of the Lord!" or "Walk honestly!" or "Put on Jesus!"...
But what does that look like in real life? on a typical day for me? for you?
Let's try this...
The alarm goes off. You stumble, bleary-eyed to the restroom. Find your robe; go wake up the kids - who, by the way, are old enough to get up by themselves to their own alarms, but don't - you head to the kitchen. Maybe you make breakfast or coffee; maybe you make lunches or find lunch money and set it out for each child. Maybe you just get your own coffee and everyone else is on their own...
If your hubby has an office job, he may breeze past you on his way out the door with a peck on the cheek - to which you respond with a bleary-eyed grunt. Or maybe he works an early morning shift and is already gone, (as evidenced by the dregs of coffee in the bottom of the cup on counter) or maybe he's just coming home from the night shift and ignores you completely as he heads directly for the shower and bed...
The kids have yet to appear and its time to go. You holler for them to get moving, and in a flurry of activity, they fly past you shouting, "Bye, Mom!" as they sprint out the door to catch the bus, or their ride, or to catch up with their friends on the walk to school.
At some point, you realize the tv was turned on and the voices you now hear are coming from that box in the other room, not your head. You decide it's probably time to get a move on yourself - maybe you need to get ready for work or at least ready for the day, so you head to the shower...
An hour later, you're in the car, muttering under your breath about the lil' old man who just pulled out in front of you, effectively boxing you in at 10 miles below the speed limit. The lady in the car next to you is talking on the phone, applying mascara, AND smoking a cigarette - you keep a leery eye on her while wondering why the guy on the other side of you feels compelled to "share" his mind-jarring rap music with the entire world at 7:30 in the morning...
By the time you get to work, you wonder if they've changed the driver's licensing requirements in your state to say you MUST have absolutely NO knowledge of common sense road rules, to say nothing of common courtesy or knowledge of what decibel levels cause brain damage. You find a message on your desk from a high-maintenance client who has already called this morning and you're beginning to wish you could contract the flu so you'd have a legitimate reason to go back home and pull the covers over your head...
Uh - so, where was the Spirit in THAT scenario? Let's re-wind...
Your alarm goes off. You stumble, bleary-eyed, to the restroom, grab your robe, and head to the kitchen. "Lord, help me wake up! I'm soooo not ready for morning!" You start the coffee and grab your bible. You find a quiet spot - shouldn't be hard because you're up before everyone else. You've been reading the book of Ephesians. You find where you left off, read a few more verses; think about what God is telling you through his Word; what he wants you to learn.
Your prayer time is filled with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. You petition the Lord for wisdom, discernment, godliness; you pray for the kids, your husband, the ladies in your church, your pastor and pastor's wife...
Now it's time for the rest of the household to rise. You still have to get the kids up - but you realize this routine really needs to change and you make a mental note to discuss this with their dad.
As they leave, you give each one a hug & a kiss. Tell them you're praying for them today. Turn the tv off and put on some godly music as you get ready for work, dressing with care. Drive to work, praying for the idiots - er, lost people - all around you as you drive. You pray for the high-maintenance client before you return their phone call, and pray that God will give you a sweet spirit, so that HE will shine through to that person, even over the phone.
See, the circumstances didn't change - but YOU did. Because of God's grace. Because you took the time to put on the armour of God, to bathe yourself in God's Word, to surrender to the Spirit. To see others as God sees them. You have "walked in the Spirit".
It's not really all about us. It's about the Lord. Get your eyes off yourself - it's not, "How can I do this?", but "Am I letting God do this?"
~Tammy
