Hi, there! Thanks for finding me. This is my first post in a blog I never thought I would have. "So," you ask, "why do you have one then?" That is a question I will answer in an upcoming post as I do have to try to keep you coming back! :)
I actually created the blog a couple of weeks ago and then struggled with what to write my first post on. Should I just introduce myself and be witty? Nah. Not very original and chances are that if you are reading this inaugural post, you already know me. Back to the drawing board.
In the meantime, while the blog was backburnered (spell check doesn't like that word either with a hyphen or without but all you moms know exactly what I am talking about by the term "backbackburnered" so I am leaving it - but I digress,) my 20- year old son, Logan, left for Air Force ROTC Field Training Camp aka FT. Most of you, if you haven't blocked me from your Facebook feed, know this too.
What you may not be aware of though, is the cutoff of communication between the cadets while they are at FT and everyone else. Oh, we can send cards or letters (absolutely no care packages though!) and they can send letters back. But I am not holding my breath on receiving one. I did send one SASE for my husband and me and one SASE for my mom. We shall see. If he only has time to get one out, I pray it's the one to my mom. After burying a child in May, she really could use the sunshine a letter from him would bring.
But, if we don't receive any correspondence from him, that's OK. I know he is busy from 4 a.m. PT (physical training) to lights out curfew at 9:00/9:30 p.m. (He told me what the curfew was but I am old and can't remember exactly.) And for inquiring minds who want to know, I have sent four cards to him already through Training Day 7 (TD7).
So TD7 doesn't include the one day of travel to get to his camp. It has been over a week now since I last talked to him, texted him, saw him on Facebook, read a tweet, etc. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero. And it sucks. I am not going to sugarcoat it. During his college terms (he will be a junior), I have gone five or six weeks without seeing him and probably several weeks without talking to him (which in a way is kind of good because it means he hasn't killed any more laptops - that's a whole post in and of itself. ) But we text frequently. Teenagers nowadays prefer to text over talk anyway and I actually do, too, in most circumstances.
So the other night, on TD5, as I was preparing for bed and wondering how I was going to make it to TD26 when we get to attend his FT graduation ceremony, it hit me. Stopped me in my tracks like a lightning bolt. What is "it?" Well, it was a whole lot of conviction from the Holy Spirit and then the Holy Spirit telling me that this topic is to be my first blog post.
You see, our Heavenly Father waits to hear from us, too. He LONGS to hear from us just as I LONG to hear from my child. Are we keeping Him waiting? Are we just throwing Him a morsel every now and then similar to a "k. <3 U2" text from our children? Are we giving Him leftovers? A few scraps of our time? Don't get me wrong. I am just as guilty sometimes hence the conviction I felt.
If God is first in our lives, shouldn't He be the first one we meet with every day? Shouldn't He get the best of us? He deserves a gourmet 4-course meal from us not leftovers. But, you say, what about my spouse and kids? Trust me, if you give the Lord your first and best, everything else will fall into place beautifully.
The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is full of references to firstfruits.
Proverbs 3:9-10 (NIV)
"Honor the Lord with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine."
Firstfruits represent a token of gratitude and humble thankfulness. They also represent "the best."
So let's give the Lord, our Father, the firstfruits of our day. I challenge you to try it with me. Instead of hitting my phone and social media the first thing in the morning, and then praying on my way to work (when I also have to pay attention to the road and other crazy drivers and not give the Lord my full attention), I am going to spend the first ten - twenty minutes of my day with our Father who is patiently waiting to hear from me on TD18646 (coincidentally my initials and the number of days since my birth - yep, I found a cool website that will calculate that!)
Feel free to comment about how you're putting this into practice and also to let me know how it's going in your life when God is getting your firstfruits and I will report back on mine.
Thanks for staying with me to the end of this!
In His Name,
Tracy
