Do You Have a Checklist?

As a follower of Christ, I have often been told, since I was young, to put God as the number one priority in my life.  At times I have, at times I have not.  There were times when I was so busy trying to make sure God was my number one priority, that He wasn't because I was too centered on my God checklist...prayer, bible study, personal time in God's word, ministry, serving, devotions, you get the idea.  All those are great in themselves, but not when the focus is on the task more than it is on God.  Other times, my priorities shifted and God was put behind my marriage, my family, friendships, my job, ministry, health issues, worry, circumstances.  It was at those times I would panic because I hadn't been spending my 1/2 hour in prayer in the mornings, or my allotted time in the Bible, or I missed two days in a row of not writing in my journal.  All these of course, are MY ideas, not God's.  I would think I had to get God back as my number one priority, or I was in big trouble.  It was something I felt like I failed at all the time because I felt I never DID enough.  

I have learned that the 'making God the number one priority by going through my checklist' is not what God wants.  God wants all of me.  He wants me to be with Him, not focused on a checklist.  A true relationship with my Creator, my Savior, has brought me to understand that concept, and now, God is at the core of who I am, the center of my life.  I breathe prayers to Him all day long, as I go about my day.  I reflect on His word throughout the day, not only by reading, but by remembering, by having His word hidden in my heart so that it is always there.  My life is now God centered, not checklist centered.  It is so much easier to love God that way, and it takes so much self-inflicted performance anxiety away and lets me just be.  Just as I want to spend time with my husband to enrich and grow our relationship, I do the same with my Savior.  Because of grace and mercy offered to me, to all of us, through Christ, I don't have to keep my checklist anymore.  I just have to be with God, in everything.


If God is woven into every aspect of my life, then He is in everything I do, everything I am, my relationships, my marriage, my family, friendships, careers, and things I am involved in.  Living like this means God is a part of my decisions, He is always apart of everything I do.  Do I always get things right, or always remember to invite Him to join me?  Far from it, but it's ok because just like my relationship with my husband, I can mess up and he forgives me, or we laugh about it, and we move on.  God is the same way.  I know He has to laugh at some of the decisions I make, and when I really mess up, He is there to help me back up, dust me off, and offer me grace to begin again.  


The core of my life is Christ.  I try my best to put Him in the center of all I do, of all I am.  I spend time in His word and in prayer because I want to not because I have to.  It's when I try to do things on my own and take Christ out of the center of my life that things spin out of control.  When He is in the center, I can be assured He is there, offering calm in the stormy times of life, giving me His strength to make it through.  


I posted this song before, but it's going through my head as I am writing about putting God in the center of my life, making Him my everything.  There are a lot of great truths in this song, so take time to just close your eyes and listen with your heart.