Rainy Days and Wednesdays...

Yuck...it's raining again.  It seems that every time I have plans to go to the Carousel Horse Antiques, it rains.  Actually, it has rained three out of my last five visits.  Joyce probably dreads seeing me coming since I seem to always bring rain.  People usually don't like to get out and shop when it's raining...at least I don't.

On days like today, it's nice to find a good book and curl up on the sofa with a cup of hot chocolate or flavored coffee.  Unfortunately, within ten minutes, I have usually read the same paragraph over about four times and have started checking my eyelids for leaks.  Sometimes picking up a book is the best cure for insomnia.  Crack open a book and pronto, I'm sleepy. 

I haven't always been this way.  In my past, there have been plenty of all-nighters.  I have frantically glanced at the clock, then said to myself, "just a couple more pages and I have to stop".  Sadly, those "couple more pages" ended up being the entire book.  At four in the morning, I suddenly realized I had to get up for work in two and a half hours.  Now I have plenty of time to read books, but I haven't...no excuses offered.  They would be lame excuses, anyway. 

It's amazing how I can justify or rationalize just about anything.  I read a devotional yesterday on Proverbs 31 Ministries website (see, I do still read).  The author talked about the difference between busyness and empty busyness.  It's kind of like calories and empty calories.  Although apples have calories and offer energy and good nutrition, I am more likely to choose Little Debbie Chocolate Peanut Butter Wafers as my snack of choice.  They have plenty of calories, but offer little in the way of nutritional value.

The same goes with my busyness.  I can find lots of things to keep me busy, (Craig's List, Ebay, Facebook) but at the end of the day have I really accomplished anything?  For accountability, a to-do list is a good way to keep my empty-busyness in check.  Without a plan to follow, I usually don't accomplish much.  Sometimes we just need to be reminded that God has a plan for us, and He is interested in every aspect of our lives.  He's interested in what I eat, what I say, what I do, what I think....the list is endless.  Ephesians 5:15-16 says, "Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."  I needed to be reminded that I am accountable to God for what I accomplish, or don't accomplish today.  Maybe you needed a gentle reminder, too. 

Copyright 2011 Charlotte Laney