spiritual gifts Archives - Kristen Anne Glover

{26} I Don’t Do Busy

I Don’t Do Busy: Day 26 of 31 Days

Click on the image above for Day 1

I have been dreading this upcoming week ever since I saw the traffic-jam starting to form on the calendar over a month ago. It makes me tense, seeing all those events stacked up in the same boxes in one little week in October because I don’t do busy.

At least, I don’t do it very well.

Like Jewel in our story, I struggle to keep my hands full of God’s riches when my feet are running in a thousand different directions. Before I even realize what is happening, I have slipped back into self-reliance and I am settling for bare survival.

Perhaps that’s why I chose to fill 31 days with a story about how God has given me everything I need for life and godliness…and how I totally ignore those riches sometimes because I’d rather come out on the other side, half-alive and over-stressed, and shout, “I did it MY way!”

That usually doesn’t work out too well for me.

Sure, I can accomplish the tasks and please all the people, but it’s like putting back on the dirty clothes I came to the kingdom in. I don’t look very good to my prince and I certainly don’t act like a radiant bride.

Consequently, I have made a habit of choosing my activities carefully and guarding my time so I’m not in those situations to begin with. Avoidance has always been my favorite spiritual gift.

I don’t do busy

Usually, it works.

But not this time. This time, the scheduling was unavoidable. Certain important things just happened to coincide with other important things. No one is to blame (except maybe my husband, who didn’t absolutely forbid me to do this 31 Days challenge when I first mentioned it), and nothing can be cut out. I look at my calendar and the impending challenge to my spiritual well-being and I think, “This is a great opportunity to practice what I’ve been theoretically preaching.”

Because sometimes, life is busy and chaotic and overwhelming and nothing can be done about it. It’s just the season. God doesn’t give us a free pass then and say, “It’s okay to be entirely vile and self-indulgent this week. I can see you’re over-committed. It would probably be a huge inconvenience to stop by so I can nourish and strengthen you.”

I treat my prince like that sometimes, like coming to His treasure room is just another box on my to-do list. When the days are particularly full, it’s easy to skip it all together because He’s less noisy about it than my other obligations are. I mean, I can neglect to feed myself from His Word, but I can’t very well fail to feed the children because they whine.

The temptation is to give in to my schedule and let my circumstances dictate whether I am full of Christ’s riches or not. I behave as if God has given me everything I need for life on the quiet days, for the days when I have time for Him.

It’s just too bad the Scriptures don’t actually say that.

God has given us everything we need for every day. That means circumstances can be perfect for filling up on Christ’s riches, or they can be an absolute hindrance to it. It doesn’t matter.

Trusting His provision has nothing to do with circumstances because it is not an obligation. It is not a nice-thing-to-do-if-you-want-to-go-the-extra-mile-for-Jesus. He does not hand out smiley stickers if you pray or read your Bible, as if doing those things earns you extra points with the Big Guy.

It might work that way if God’s riches were Law.

But God’s riches are a grace.

They are given to you, not so you are be obligated to them, but so you can be refreshed by them. They are not the rule book for the game; they are the fuel. If you avoid them, it is to your own detriment, not His.

That’s why, when life is most overwhelming, Christ’s riches are most necessary. On the busy days, we should think to ourselves, “Give me a full tank. I need all the help I can get.”

Instead, we—I—allow our circumstances to shift our priority. Suddenly, it becomes much more important to make 10 dozen perfect cupcakes for the church bake sale than it does to perfect the beauty of the bride of Christ. We might even feel a little guilty about missing an opportunity to spend time with Him, as if it is something we do for Him rather than a blessing He gives to us.

It is a grace. All of Christ’s riches are a grace. They are to be used liberally whenever we need anything for our physical or spiritual life. In other words, they are to be used for every situation in every part of every day, whether the calendar is full or free.

Always.

I am going to be reminding myself of that every day this week because I don’t do busy very well, and I have a very busy week ahead. Give me a full tank. I need all the help I can get.

*Day 27 is coming right up! I hope you’ll join us.

The reason this post is so late: A pterodactyl ate it.

{18} Trust Me

Trust Me: Day 18 of 31 Days.

Click on the picture above for Day 1.

“There’s just one little catch,” the prince said, and Jewel’s body went ridged with the words.

How could there be a catch?

Ever since she met the prince, she had been waiting for a catch, but there wasn’t one. Over and over again, he had told her that she could not earn what he was giving her, and she could not pay it back.

She realized, then, that she had believed it, and she had been tricked.

“What’s the catch?” she asked, a hoarseness catching in her throat.

“You have to trust me, Jewel.” He said it softly, and with a serious kind of sadness, like he thought it would be a deal breaker.

“That’s it?” she cried, relief flooding over her. “I have to trust you?” She almost laughed because it was so simple. Of course she trusted him.

“You have to trust that I have indeed given you everything you need for life in my kingdom.”

“I can’t imagine why I would doubt that!” Jewel laughed. She was standing in a treasure box. What else could she possibly need from him?

“You are my bride now, and that comes with a very high calling.” His voice was still sad and serious. The delight he always had in calling her his bride was gone.

“Why are you so serious?” she asked. His demeanor was unnerving.

“Because, Jewel, I won’t always be with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have to go away on my father’s business—there is still so much to do—and you will have to stay here and continue the work I have for you, believing that I have equipped you to do it well.”

Jewel’s mind was a flood of questions, but she could not say any of them because her heart was drowning in a sudden, overwhelming grief. “How can you leave me?” she murmured. She had not been without him since the moment he found her by the side of the road, and she did not know how she could live without him now.

Trust Me

He smiled a small, sad smile, and she realized he grieved with her. “My darling, that is why it is the catch. You have to trust me. You have to trust that I would not leave you unless the work I have to do is exceedingly important. And you have to trust that if I go away from you for a time, I will come back again. I will always come back to you, Jewel.”

Jewel nodded and brushed a tear away with the back of her hand.

“I will never abandon you—remember that? I promised you that the day I took you as my bride. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. If I have to go away, it is only for a little while, and I will come back again. But while I am away, you must come to this room and liberally take from it. Use these gifts, Jewel. Use the things I have left you to do the job I have for you.”

“I don’t understand,” Jewel sputtered. “What job?” She had longed for a job in the prince’s kingdom, but now, now that he was leaving, she did not feel adequate to do anything but sob.

“You have the most important job of all.”

Jewel’s eyes widened with fear.

“Trust me.”

She swallowed.

“It is such an important job, I have given it to every person in my kingdom: I want you to be like me.”

It didn’t sound very much like a job, and Jewel couldn’t help but feel she was missing something.

“You are my bride, Jewel. That means everything you say and everything you do reflects back on me. You are my representative, don’t you see? It is your job to show the people who I am when I am not here to show them myself. It is your job to serve and care for them, to love and instruct them, and to uphold all the rules of my kingdom as if I were doing it myself.”

Now she understood. It was a very big job indeed.

“How can I do that? I’ve only just come to know you myself!”

“You have to trust me. I would not give you a job I have not equipped you to do.”

“But I don’t even know all the rules of your kingdom! What if I mess it up?”

“Oh, you will mess it up. Over and over again, you will mess it up.”

“Then what?” Jewel felt panic rising inside.

“Then I will forgive you.”

“But what if I need you?”

“Then I will come running. Do you not think I would move heaven and earth to come to my bride if she called?”

“But…” she did not know what else to say, except that she was scared.

“But…? But I have given you everything you need to grow into your role. I have given you everything you need to thrive in my kingdom. There is only one thing left. Do you trust me, Jewel?”

“Yes. No! I don’t know.” She put her head in her hands and cried, “Only, help me!”

“I will,” he said, cradling her in his arms. “I have one more thing to show you, Jewel, and it is a good thing. Think of all you have seen and all I have given you, and know this: I have saved the very best for last.”

{17} Everything You Need

Day 17 of 31 Days. Click on the image above for Day 1.

“This is going to take some getting used to,” Jewel laughed. She felt a little dizzy standing in the vast cavern filled with the treasure that was to be her inheritance.

“You have the rest of your life to get used to it,” the prince said. “What do you think you should do first?”

“I don’t know…,” she said thoughtfully, walking among the jewels and touching them as she passed.

As soon as her fingers brushed the stones, they began to glow, almost imperceptibly at first. But then her hands lingered on a beautiful, flawless emerald. From somewhere deep within the stone, it came alive with light.

“Oh!” Jewel gasped, withdrawing her hand quickly. “What is happening?”

“Pick it up, and you will see.”

Cautiously, she cupped the stone in her hands and lifted it from the pile of gems. It was as large as a cobblestone, but perfectly cut so every surface glittered with light.

When she held it in her hands, the emerald seemed to respond to her touch. The same light she saw at first deepened, causing the gem to dance. Flickering green fragments reflected off the walls and reached all the way up to the arched ceiling. The longer she held it, the more beautiful it became.

Jewel looked at the prince. “Is it alive?” she asked.

He laughed. “No, but you’ve just stumbled upon a very important truth about the treasure in my kingdom. Not only is it vast and limitless, but it becomes more beautiful and more valuable the more it is used.”

She stared at him in disbelief.

“Test me,” he challenged, a grin sneaking into the corners of his lips.

Jewel chose an amethyst. Rich, purple hues spread slowly out from the stone and enveloped her. “You never cease to amaze me!” she cried.

“I hope not,” the prince answered, but his words were lost amid her wonder.

“Here, you try!” Jewel handed the prince a ruby.

Everything You Need

As soon as it touched his fingers, brilliant red light shot out from every facet of the stone. It flamed with light, burning in his hands like an ember. The walls of the cavern became the inside of a fiery volcano, and every other gem took on the light and smoldered with it.

“How did you do that?” Jewel gasped. Her glowing gem looked pale in comparison to his.

“I am light,” he answered simply.

“What do you mean?” she asked, staring at the ruby aflame in his hands.

“There is no darkness in me–nothing evil, nothing hidden in shadows. Just light.”

She thought of the Enchanter, who gained power from darkness and strength from shadows, and she moved a little closer to her prince.

“These riches shine brightest where there is no darkness,” he added.

Jewel looked at her own gem, softly glowing in her hands, and she felt suddenly self-conscious. Just as soon as she felt the twinge of shame, the amethyst dimmed.

The prince did not look, but he said, “Do not give in to the shame of your poverty when you are standing in the very place that can make you rich.”

Jewel swallowed hard.

“Do you want to be rich, Jewel?”

She nodded, and he smiled. “I know you do. That’s why I brought you here. I have given you everything you need to become rich like me. Everything in my kingdom is yours to use for that end. Everything! But you have to use it. Surround yourself with my treasure, Jewel. Spend it, give it–wear it! It will change you until people will not be able to see you without seeing me.”

“It’s just that easy?” Jewel asked, hardly daring to believe that she could become like the prince simply by surrounding herself with the good things he had given her.

“It’s just that easy,” the prince said. “Of course, there is one little catch…”