Don't Slack Off

"Am I abiding? Am I taking time to abide?"

According to Webster, "abide" (in its intransitive form) means "to remain stable or fixed in a state; to continue in a place: sojourn."

I think I might need a map, a map with a large red "X" in the spot where I am supposed to abide and lots of arrows showing how to get back to that spot from all the places to which I am likely to wander off. In fact, I better make several maps so that I can post them in all those same places. I have a tendency to get lost.

Right now, I am abiding. I am in a stable fixed state. I have had three days to read and blog and meditate on chazaq. The sermon I heard on Sunday was about chazaq, Hebrew for repair, healing, courage, being strong, restoration, and how our God is a God of repair. "God loves to heal," the pastor said, and I thought, Yes! that's my God. He can heal all that's broken in the world. He can heal what's broken in my life, and all I need to do to join him in that master chazaq plan is abide.

But here's the thing: the author of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" knew my heart. "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love." And so I pray, "Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee." Set limits to my wandering, Lord. Keep me close to home, and as I wander, ever draw my eyes to the big red "X" and the way back.