Seasons: Keep Shoveling

Seasons

“Keep shoveling.”

It’s a hard thing to hear. We are so prone to associating our value with what we are doing. Downtimes with the Lord are hard. It is much easier to see the reward on eternity’s side when sweat is running off our brow, so to speak.

Of Abraham, Romans says that if he was justified by works then he had something to boast about (Romans 4:2). Justification through works is embedded within the human nature. We feel value when we are doing something. We feel justified. We can even myopically look at the scriptures to elevate self-worth through works. I think most of us wrestle with feeling of worthlessness when we aren’t saddled.

Seasons of downtime come. They are beneficial. They give us a break: a needed break. We need our Sabbaths. Not out of a legalistic regiment, rather a sigh—a deep breath—for the soul. Not only are they so, but these breaks have other more important benefits. They tap deep places of our soul; places where important God questions bubble from. These questions lead to clarified vision. But the most important reason for these God-imposed downtimes is that they reorient our spirit that we are justified by Jesus Christ apart from works. And this dear reader anchors our soul.

Recently I have been forced into one of His God-imposed Sabbaths. Daily routines: laundry, dinners, washing the dog, grocery shopping, and cleaning up after my horses was about it for me. I get quite a bit of communion with the Lord and a ton of scripture since I listen to teaching and the Bible virtually all day—such a wonderful blessing. One day while cleaning my horses’ paddock, I was talking to the Lord. “Lord,” I said “What am I supposed to be doing?” His response was clear, “Keep shoveling.” It hit me like a splash of cold water in a warm shower. I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing. I was shoveling horse manure. I was pleasing Him.

Enjoy your downtimes. 

Let those deep God questions bubble out of your soul. 

Commune with Him

…and keep shoveling.

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