The Amazing Race

January 2, 2019 by  
Filed under Christian Life, For Her

By Christine Thomas

Lately my days have been an exercise in scheduling. With four children involved in sports, music, tutoring, rehearsals, and youth groups, not to mention the bustle of the holidays thrown in the mix, I spend so much time in the car that my right foot brakes and accelerates when I sit down to eat at home, although I usually grab a snack on my way out the door.

In between this endless shuttling to and from commitments and appointments, I make an occasional pit stop at home to throw in a load of laundry. Every day feels like a live TV show in which I’m an actor who must hit her mark or the program is thrown off track. Consequently my mind is always racing as I mentally contrive the order of each day.

When describing my harried life to a friend, she passed along a word of advice which helped her during one of life’s hyper-busy seasons.

“Sometimes when my life feels extra hectic I think about the verse where Jesus tells us that he is the vine and we are the branches, then I just concentrate on trying to abide in the vine each day,” my well-meaning friend explained.  

I nodded absently with a mental eye-roll. I had heard that biblical piece of advice many times.

However, when my endless “to do” list and mental scheduling invaded my sleep one morning before dawn, my soul repeated those words.

“Abide in the vine.”

“Abide in the vine.”

I felt the familiar internal tug to get out of bed and go downstairs with my Bible where I allowed the Holy Spirit to lovingly woo me to the familiar metaphor.

Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Make yourselves at home with me. John 15:4 (The Message)

God had done it again. His life-giving words penetrated my anxiety, pushing out manic thoughts and replacing them with peace and a sense of well-being. Not only would Christmas come and go, but my children would arrive at all their destinations regardless of how much, or how little, I stressed about it. I could get lost in my lists or scoot over to the passenger’s seat and let the Lord take me on a wonderful ride. It was time to relinquish control, and as Carrie Underwood sings, “Let Jesus take the wheel.” 

No matter how many hours I’m driving hither and yon, worried I won’t make it to my various destinations on time; I can make my home in Him. It may be a “mobile home,” but the Lord is with me–joined and living. His word assures me that when I live in Him intimately, the harvest is sure to be abundant.

With my early morning Bible study over, I looked ahead to the next couple of hours when my road trip would begin again. Only now I was equipped to handle the amazing race because I had re-attached myself to the vine.

Christine Thomas runs her daily race in Denton, Texas where she homeschools her children and helps her husband run his web-design business. Christine lives by the saying, “You can rest, or you can rust.” She strives to rest in the Lord, while her garden tools rust in the garage.

About Christine Thomas

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Comments

One Response to “The Amazing Race”
  1. Lorne says:

    Thank you. Very good words. Very uplifting to me, especially today!

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