If your life was a shelf, what would be on it?
Take a minute and really think about this strange question. Would it have an animal figurine because you love animals, some paintbrushes for art, or both? Would it have a picture of a warm sunny day, or a rainy one? Would your shelf be perfectly manicured and arranged neatly, or would the items be placed haphazardly around (no shame in either option)? Think about several things that are really important to you-whether big or small-and imagine them on your “life shelf”.
My shelf would probabaly have some paintbrushes and pencils, lots of pictures of my friends and family, something green (maybe a mini green apple tree!!), and something that says I like theatre. There’s one thing I left off that list, and I’ll tell you what it us later. It is probably the most important, most forgotten thing in the history of the planet. So often we make ourselves so busy that we forget to take a minute or two for Jesus. I myself know this very well. I’ll get up early in the morning so I’m not late for A hour, rush through the classes of the day, stay after school for math tutoring or volleyball, come home for five minutes, cram as much homework into that time as possible, then I’ll be rushing off to small group or another activity of some sort. That’s just a normal day for me: sometimes they get busier. I wake up and rush through everything and before I know it BAM I’m back in bed getting two minutes of sleep before I have to wake up to start it all over again. It is so easy to get wrapped up in busy everyday life that we forget how to slow down and chill.
There is one more thing I’d put on my shelf, and that would be a cross. It reminds me to take a minute and slow down. To keep the right pace and not let the winds of my busy day sweep me away completely. Sometimes, we have to physically push some stuff aside to make room for that cross, but it needs to be done. So…how can you start to make room for God in your life? I’m glad you asked! Here’s some tips that have helped me a lot:
- Pray: prayer is such a simple thing. It’s really easy to do too. You can do it anywhere at any time. Talk to Jesus like He’s your best friend. Tell him how you feel, tell him what is going on, and ask him for help. He’s more than willing to listen if only you’d ask.
- Read your bible: if you don’t have one, get the You Version Bible app (it’s free!). Not a reader? The app will read it to you! You just have to listen! Don’t know where to start? Keep a look out for my upcoming “fantastic bible stories and where to find them” page. I know reading your bible can seem scary or boring, but once you see how amazing God’s word really is, I promise you won’t want to put it down. My suggestion to build a habit out of this: start small! Start with a prayer at the same time each day-whenever that time is most often available. Don’t worry if you forget one day, but don’t make a habit out of forgetting either. Then, start with a chapter or two at a time. Bible chapters are usually quite short and easy to read. If you don’t know here to start reading, I’d suggest the psalms. They’re simple songs and poems, and quite pretty. Plus, there are a lot of them too!!
- Read a devotional: it doesn’t matter which one. If you don’t have a book, the Bible app I talked about earlier has hundreds of free devotionals! These help me take bible passages I’d normall read without much thought and apply them to my own life.
- Reward yourself: this is one everybody should love doing! Grab a small piece of Halloween candy, a bite of ice cream, apopsicle, or your favorite Starbucks at the end of the week and reward yourself every time you pray, and read your bible and devotional at the same time every day. This helps to build your habit because now, instead of thinking of your time for God as boring or a waste of time when I have so much more to do, you will start to think of it as good (because of the little reward). Once you have made the habit (about two or three weeks of doing the same thing), you can (and should) stop the reward. This is so you can focus more on getting the best out of your Jesus time, and not just the snack at the end.
It’s always hard to force yourself to get into a new habit, so please don’t get frustrated if it doesn’t work right. Find what works best for you, and stick with that. I hope these tips help!
Graced 