Day 3
What Drives Your Life?
You, Lord, give perfect peace
to those who keep their purpose firm
and put their trust in you.
Isaiah 26:3 TEV
Have you ever shouted – maybe to your kids – “You’re driving me crazy”?
Well, if everyone’s life is driven by something, there’ve been times in my life when I’ve been driven by craziness. Circumstances have overwhelmed me.
What’s worse are my reactions. I’ve been angry. I’ve pouted. I’ve been passive-aggressive. I’ve tried the silent treatment. Those were childish responses.
Sadly, my “adult responses” are sometimes even worse. When circumstances overwhelm me, I tend to work harder. Working harder occasionally accomplishes a good number of things, but there are two negative consequences …
- One is exhaustion – like a hamster on a wheel, a tired-Ed expends lots of energy, but I’m going in circles and producing very few results.
- The second negative consequence to working hard is pride. I begin to think it’s me producing things – not God. And the more I adopt that mind-set, the more in my haste I exclude God even from the planning.
Rick Warren asks what drives us. The answer for me is … me. Me, myself, and I continually try to drive me. My priorities, my logic, and my desires steer me. My wants and reasons are my personal GPS.
When I don’t intentionally focus on God and his purposes, I am just a poor hamster on a creaky wheel. I’m in the wrong place … at the wrong time … doing senseless things … and wondering why I’m so tired.
In Christ’s Love,
a guy who doesn’t want
to be nicknamed “Hamster”
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