They Call Me Mama - Mama! Maaama! Mamaaaa! Mamamamamamama!

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Worship is a wonderful thing.  To live your whole life as such is something to strive for. I heard a story about a man who would set his alarm throughout the day to remind himself to stop and pray, with the goal being that he would train himself to always be in the Spirit.  But some days worship is the last thing on our minds.  Sometimes your environment - sometimes the very thing that makes you want to worship - tries to keep you from doing just that.  The nature that usually brings you closer to the Lord is suddenly hailing giant pellets on you as you run across the parking lot or blowing your lawn chairs across the pool.  The music that usually transports you to another place screeches in your ears as the microphones give off nasty feedback.  And sometimes "Mama!" is the last thing you want to be called.  The sound of your name being called for the umpteenth time as you are trying to have a conversation with another adult is grating to your ears.  The little body that usually melts your heart and brings out prayers of thanksgiving as you rock them to sleep will not stop using you as a jungle gym.  Worship is the farthest thing from your mind.

On these days - okay let's be honest, for me it's today - I have to stop and do a heart check.  Do I even want to be worshiping?  If the answer is no, I think repentance is the key.  Only once there is repentance, can God transform.  He might not keep the little monkeys from climbing all over me and pushing buttons, but he can and will give me the grace to handle them.  If the answer is no, you are not allowing God any part in your day.  Finding patience is much more difficult without God's help.  But  once the desire to worship and to allow God the glory for every good and perfect gift, is there, those "Mamamamamamamamamamamama!"s are a little more manageable.  Today I'm not SuperMom!  I'm SurvivorMom!  And if all of us get to bed tonight in one piece and I can look back and know that I have truly tried living in the Spirit today, that I have lived today in prayer (mostly pleas!), well, I think that's good enough.  And thankfully, His mercies are new again tomorrow.


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