Free!

I love seeing God at work in regular events of my every–day life. I have asked Him to show up in all kinds of little ways throughout my days, to remind me of His presence in all the small moments of my life. I want to notice Him not just when I sit and open my Bible, or spend time alone with Him at the ocean or listen to worship music. I want to see Him when I am picking my kids up from school, in a meeting, driving in traffic, dealing with a difficult person, making dinner, taking care of a sick child. He is always near, but I have to perk my ears up and open my eyes. I have to look and listen. When I do, I am tuned into the greatest gift in my life, His Presence in every moment of every day.

I had just picked up both little kids from school, and without realizing it, had become overtaken by their stuff.   I imagine I resembled a coat rack, overloaded with…everything. I looked ahead as they ran footloose and fancy free to the car, and I realized that I had a back pack over one shoulder a purse over the other, a lunch box hung over one of my fingers, keys over another, preschool projects in one grip and two winter coats flung over an arm. Without even knowing it, everything that they had been carrying just a few seconds ago was now transferred. They had flung everything onto me, and I gladly took it, without even thinking.

I took all their stuff so that they could be free.

And I thought about Jesus. He does this for me. I can fling everything on Him. He takes the weight that holds me down…he takes it onto Himself so that I can run and skip and live free.

“Cast all your anxiety on Him, for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

To cast means to throw. Just like my kids did to me. They knew I would carry it for them…all their “stuff,” so they threw it on me, without even thinking.

There is a lot to be anxious about, a lot of worry and fear that I see in my own life and in the lives of so many people.

Jesus asks us to throw it on to Him. To take it off our shoulders and give it to Him. He can take it, carry it, and put it wherever it needs to be.

So today, as “stuff” piles up, I will choose to give it to Jesus—moment by moment. Jesus has set me free. I choose to live free.

Christy