The Simple Life

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

Lately this verse has been going around and around in my head! This time of the year is really so very busy. Things tend to get "lost in the shuffle", attitudes get a little testy, patience wears thin and the whining and the crying increases. My tendancy is to want to do everything and do everything perfectly.

This verse has reminded me that I put too many expectations on myself. God doesn't expect perfection, He knows His children too well. God doesn't expect my "supermom" cape to always be spot and wrinkle free. God doesn't expect my house to be spotless, my children clean and always in matching outfits, and 5 course dinners on the table every night.

In reading this verse I am reminded of the Pharisees in the New Testement. They added so many expections onto God's instructions. They wanted their inward "godliness" to be "on show" to the outside world. They wanted a checklist that they could check off to prove they were godly.

I am participating in a Bible study of Beth Moore's study of Daniel. This past week we have been in Daniel chapter 3, talking about the golden image good 'ol Neb had built, leanding up to the story of the firey furnace. Beth Moore spoke about how we need to be careful in our lives not to "build images" of ourselves. That we need to be genuine.

Yes, I will admit, I would love for the world to think that I am the modern day June Cleaver....but try as I might, that is never going to be the genuine me. The genuine me has "hidey holes of clutter" in my house. (For those of you who watch the show FRIENDS, my garage is Monica's closet) The genuine me likes to ignore the areas of the house that I don't always see. I long for a clutter and completely organized house, but I think that is just going to have to wait until my mansion in heaven!

What God requires is a just life. God is more concerned over how I treat people. To me that is saying that I need to treat all people justly, whether I know them or not. So the driver that cuts me off needs to be given the same benefit of doubt that a close friend of mine would be given. Sitting here drinking my coffee in my rarely quiet house it is easy to type those words, but it is really hard to put them in practice!

I think living justly also applies to how I treat myself. Do I treat myself fairly? No I really don't, I am tougher on myself than anyone else. It is a daily battle, that I hope someday I can win!

God also requires us to love mercy. In our own lives of course we love mercy! Mercy is what spares us from a life without God! Mercy rescued us....Mercy is awesome!! Then someone comes along and "wrongs" us....how we LOVE to bring out the fire and brimstone! How we love to make that person grovel and rain down judgement! We forget that every breath we take is because of God's mercy.

Walking humbly with God. To me this is saying to live our lives in such a way that it is God who gets the glory. God delights in giving His children gifts and talents, but it is our job to use them in such a way that it is God's image that is shown not our own "golden images".

I love this verse for its simplicity. It is a concise outline of God's expectations. I hope to live out this verse in this hectic holiday season. I pray that God would show me my "Pharisee clutter" and that I will become more genuine, more refined and just a tad saner!