Too busy!

I read somewhere that one of Satan's greatest tools against God's children is busyness. He tries to get us to stay busy, too busy to keep in contact with our Creator. Have you noticed how there's always so many things to do? I know I do. My to do list keeps growing and I never get to cross it all out and just rest. When I finish some things, other ones are added. It's a vicious cycle with no end in sight.

The realization that life is too complicated and too full of things has been in my mind lately, so I've been trying to simplify. I look around my house and try to figure what else I could get rid of. I read Better Homes and Gardens and watch TV shows on how to organize my life. I talk with friends and read books that will make me a better person. In the end, I realized that I was just giving me even more to do. It is a vicious cycle!

So I finally came to the conclusion that I can't do this on my own. I do agree that my life is full of things to do that really don't need to be done, but I can't simplify my life on my own because the devil is the one making me think I have to do all of this. And he also makes me feel guilty for not doing even more! This is a spiritual battle. I need God! So last week I started praying for a simpler life and God started answering that prayer in His own way, without me even realizing what He was doing.

When Friday arrived I was busy preparing things for Sabbath. Fridays sometimes are my busiest day. I cleaned the kitchen after breakfast and put bread in the oven. Then I looked around and realized I didn't have anything else to do! I tried to think of something but really couldn't! It was the strangest feeling as this has never happened to me. At least not that I can remember. So I got to spend lots of time with the people I love the most and I even got to straighten my naturally curly hair, something I hadn't done in months!

Sabbath went to church and got to spend a really nice day with friends and family and on Sunday decided to go on a hike in the woods. I hadn't gone for a winter hike yet and Sunday was a little warmer than it has been, and the sun was shinning, so it was perfect. And what a beautiful hike it was. The cold air felt very clean and pure. The trees have a different smell in the winter, and I loved the sound of me walking on the snow. I could also hear little chickadees singing while flying from tree to tree. It was so calm and beautiful. Got to see 2 sled dog teams practicing too.  It was great!

Today I went shopping. I wanted to be done in less than 2 hrs, but 3 1/2 hrs later I was finally coming home. The cool thing is that I wasn't stressed and I actually had a fun time. And tonight, I was planning on spending some time in the kitchen, but instead I turned the stove and the kitchen lights off, and curled in the couch with my hubby and watched a movie.

It's so incredible to realize God's work in my life. He's answered my prayer in amazing ways. And the funny thing is that even though I'm feeling more calm and relaxed, I've still managed to get things done around the house and the family is not going hungry. Oh! And I haven't even done a to do list!

How sad to think though that so many times I waste so much time trying to solve things on my own, when the One who created me and knows me so well is readily available to help me. I could've gone to Him right away. It's great to know though that He takes care of me and that He'll help me to have a more simpler life so I can focus on what's truly important: Him!

"Be still and know that I am God."

Psalm 46:10

Something I wrote in the beginning of September 2009

After a very wet August as it rained pretty much every day, September has brought beautiful, warm, and sunny days…so far. :) Maybe it’s the calm before the storm, I don’t know ;), but I do know that it has been great! The sunshine enters the house and all I want to do is to open all the windows and doors so it can inundate the whole house. Love it!

Days are rapidly getting shorter and I’ve finally seen the stars. It was interesting to look up at the sky last night and see Cassiopeia and the Big Deeper and know that those are the same stars I used to see in New Mexico. What a big sky and what a small world.

Because the weather has been so nice, we’ve been outside a lot. It’s amazing that there are so many beautiful places to go not too far from home. 2 weeks ago we went on a hike around a lake with beaver lodges, lots of wildlife and so many cool things to see. I was a little uneasy about being there by ourselves because of the possibility of bigger wildlife (moose and bears), but then we could see behind the trees the sign for McDonalds and the hotel, and we know that Wal-Mart and Lowes and other stores are right there. We were so close to civilization and yet surrounded by God’s untouched nature.

On Friday we went to a high peak nearby.  It was beautiful and as we hiked higher the view just got more amazing! The trees are all turning colors and because they cover pretty much every mountain and hill, all we see is this carpet of colors spreading before our eyes. Words cannot describe the beauty and it really cannot be captured in a picture although we did try several times (like more than 200 thanks to digital photography.) Sometimes the trees seem to form a group of trees with similar colors, and it looks like we’re looking at a quilt with colorful patches here and there. Because the day was nice and clear, we were able to see Mt McKinley, or Denali as they call it here, for the first time. It is huge and we are more than 100 miles away from it! It’s all covered in snow and it’s so much taller than all the other mountains around. I can’t wait to see it up close. It must be something! On the other side of the hill we could see town, with the 2 rivers that run through and several small lakes and ponds. Beautiful!

Yesterday, after a Spirit filled church service and a good lunch (haystacks!), our new friends took us on a hike to another high peak. We had a large group so there were lots of kids.  The children quickly found a blueberry patch on the top and sat down picking and eating blueberries.  It was cute to see these little heads peaking from the blueberry patch.

The view was amazing again, and because fall happens so fast up here, there were even more trees changing colors. There’s so much to see everywhere that sometimes I don’t know if I should look up or down. Most of the trees only turn yellow or orange, but the smaller plants closer to the ground turn red, purple, or different tones of green. It makes for an amazing combination.

As we were driving home, still in awe of the amazing landscape before our eyes, the moon showed up in the sky. It’s full and it was big. It made the view even more breathtaking and I didn’t think that could be possible! We were just trying to take it all in when we thought that to see moose would make a great day end perfectly. Not even 2 minutes after that, a car driving on the opposite direction flashed its brights. We slowed down and sure enough, right there on the side of the road there were 2 of these incredible big animals, quietly looking at us, letting us admire them for a few moments before disappearing into the woods.

I imagine God hearing us talk about the moose, smiling and saying: well, let’s make this day perfect, and then giving those two moose the mission of going near the road, during hunting season, so that these kids of His could see them and have a perfect day. We thanked Him for that gift, a demonstration of His love for us.

That is my God!