HAVE YOU SCHEDULED YOUR APPOINTMENT WITH GOD?

For most of my career, I had anything but a predictable work schedule. I might work day shift one day, night shift the next, and then back to day shift. Sometimes I would wake up long before the sun came up. Other days I would still be awake from the night before when the new day dawned. For too long I let my work schedule and the lack of a routine be an excuse that explained my inability to consistently spend dedicated time with God and His Word each day. "If I just had a predictable routine," I would say to myself, "THEN, I would carve out some time for God and be consistent in the Word."

About 6 months ago, I transitioned to a new career and my new work schedule was completely the opposite of the haphazard situation I just described. When I first started working this (essentially) 9-5 job, I was so looking forward to the change. For the first time in my adult life, I was going to be able to establish a routine - with all of the "good" things I wanted to do. I was going to go to the gym 3 times a week before work and I was going to wake up early every day to have a "quiet time" with God and His Word. With a toddler at home, the early morning hours were (and still are) the best time for me to be able to truly focus and meditate on the Word. But despite my best intentions - and even my New Year's resolution - I was not able to be consistent with my early morning quiet time with the Lord. I began to love my sleep more than my time in the Word. Then, this January, I got a challenge and a wake-up call from my pastor during one of his sermons.  

No matter our job or our schedules - predictable and routine or all over the place - I imagine most of us make it a point to be where we're supposed to be when we're supposed to be there. In fact, we're probably early to almost every appointment or meeting we have. What if you have a meeting scheduled with your supervisor? Your Commanding Officer? What about those 0500 flight briefs? I bet we would all be on-time or early to any of those appointments. 

Last month, my pastor shared the story of his brother's passing away several years ago. After his brother died, the family had to go through his belongings and my pastor described finding his brother's planner and seeing written on each morning - "AWG." My pastor's brother was a very Godly man who died way too young. Before he died, he told my pastor that he viewed his morning meetings with God as being of equal importance with any meeting or appointment he had with his job. So he actually wrote in an Appointment With God (AWG) every morning on his calendar - and he kept it. 

I found this advice inspirational and incredibly helpful. What if all of us viewed our time with God as being of equal importance as a meeting with our supervisor or boss at our job? Would we just hit the snooze button and miss that meeting? Or would we wake up early, make sure we're prepared, and go into the meeting ready to hear what our Boss has to say? Whatever your schedule is - and even if it's not predictable at all - is there room to make an appointment with God? 

For you, it might be a standing appointment at the same time every morning. Or you might need to schedule an appointment with God the night before when you find out the details of the next day's work schedule. Either way, when you make that appointment with God, make sure you don't miss it! 

As Psalm 1 says:

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in seasonand whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. Psalm 1:1-3

MS

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