going through the motions...

Walking around at work today, I saw two adolescent girls pushing around their younger, permanently wheelchair bound brother.  At first glance, my heart went out to them.  I cannot imagine the daily struggle.  

But as I continued to watch, I saw the two girls start playing around and running fast through the aisle, all while pushing their younger brother's wheelchair.  The wheelchair crashes into a rocking chair, and the girls quickly spin around looking to see if their parent witnessed the foolishness.  Apparently not caught, the girls giggle, and the brother is not happy that his feet now hurt.

The evidence begins to pile up that these girls are acting out of duty, not out of love.  Going through the motions and completing the daily chore of pushing their brother's wheelchair, from the outside looking in, has taken residence where love should reside.

Having children in our own home from literally all walks of life have also shown to display signs of going through the motions.  Playtime together becomes a duty or a chore, instead of an act of love and interest.

 

 
 
 

 

The desire to force a relationship and love is clearly absent the Holy Spirit.  Oh!  We need that Holy Spirit!  

I read the other day where a very well known author was quoted saying, " I cannot make anyone fall in love with God; I can only arrange a romantic date."

How many wheelchairs are we pushing around today all for the sake of having too, or because of responsibility. Oh! How we should do so out of love!  Don't you see that Jesus himself is that difference between work and wanting to?  

The void, the so evident void, is to only be filled by the moving of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  The Holy Spirit fills when we are emptied.  We are emptied when we have surrendered.  We surrender, when we see that all is lost.

I don't want to complete a task or fulfill a duty any longer, absent the love that is supposed to abound in me.  I want my children to see, not always hear, the love that pours from my every movement, revealing that my God is love, and beckons us to love, not to just go through the motions, Isaiah 1.

David said,

“My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.--Psa. 63:8”

Let this be my life also.

Life isn't meant to just be lived, but intended to be loved.