Derailed

The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.

Isaiah 29:13

Good intentions and all that--derailed by the flu making repeated rounds the family.

I'm struggling to rediscover normal, whatever that is.

And in the midst of re-establishing normal, I want to re-establish intimacy with God. No, I'm not worried that He's mad at me or anything. I'm not caught up in the lies of a "Do-this-Don't-do-that" relationship with God. I understand there is an ebb and flow in my relationship with God.

It's just that I miss the intimacy.

And ... okay, I admit it. I still compare myself with others who seem to maintain some kind of mystical, continual connection to God.

How do they do that?

What keeps them close to God--no matter what?

Yesterday, I sat myself down in front of my computer. Not to work, but to listen to my playlist of worship songs I've collected.

Ah, instant communion. I sang, despite my congested head and scratchy throat. And it felt good. Not perfect. But good.

And I heard God speak some truth to me. And I went away encouraged.

Thinking Out Loud: We Accidental Pharisees get tripped up by wanting things to be just so before we approach God. Perfect. We want to have crossed our t's and dotted our i's--and made it all look good so God is pleased with our effort. And that keeps us from coming to God sooner. We deprive ourselves of a more constant communion because we want it to be perfect--or we don't want it at all.