Overflow

With some big projects on my plate today, and requests coming at me from out of the woodwork, I have to stop and remember - 

Overload is my killer.

But God loves me so much, he’ll take care of all the details, if I let him.   

So, I don’t have to be overloaded… I can be overflowing.   

I also thought about this journey I am on.  I don’t have to strain to accomplish wellness or holiness.  He who works without strain will do the work in and with me.

Maybe someone else needs to remember this today, too. 

The below excerpt is from "Streams in the Desert" (emphasis mine): 

Walk Without Strain
"And he saw them toiling in rowing" (Mark 6:48).

Straining, driving effort does not accomplish the work God gives man to do. Only God Himself, who always works without strain, and who never overworks, can do the work that He assigns to His children. When they restfully trust Him to do it, it will be well done and completely done. 

The way to let Him do His work through us is to 

partake of Christ so fully, by faith, that He more than fills our life.

A man who had learned this secret once said: "I came to Jesus and I drank, and I do not think that I shall ever be thirsty again. I have taken for my motto, 'Not overwork, but overflow'; and already it has made all the difference in my life."

There is no effort in overflow.

It is quietly irresistible. 

It is the normal life of omnipotent and ceaseless accomplishment 

into which Christ invites us today and always.

Holiness

Themes, resolutions, decisions, plans, goals; a New Year.
It all escapes me, sometimes.  There's a part of me that wants to jump in, with both feet and a big splash.  "It's a great time to start something new - fresh - clean!"  Yep.  I get that.  I love it - really, I do.  New Years IS a time to reset parts of your life - or, your WHOLE life, if so inclined. 
Aaand, so is any other day. So, a part of me feels like the hoopla of New Year's resolutions is simply - recycled.  Doomed for a crash and burn.  What a party-pooper.  I know.   So - for a moment I'm going to think of New Year's Day as any other day - and think of it in the most uncynical of ways.  EVERY DAY is NEW.  
One this new day, I am hearing a voice.  The voice of my King calling me to something that is quite daunting.  Holiness.  As a believer and follower of Christ, I know that this pursuit is many things; challenging, required, worthwhile, hard but good.  Lately, I have become aware of a new way to look at it.  Attainable.  
I've bought into a lie that holiness IS perfect behaviour - or perfect behaviour is holiness - and that, I know, is NOT attainable in this life.  So, I compromise.  Daily. Multiple times daily.  Perfect behaviour - sinlessness - is not attainable.  This is a fact.  I know that Christ has made ME, my spirit, perfect through his sacrifice.  I have been redeemed. My slate is washed clean. But I dirty it all of the time.  And His grace is there to wipe it clean again.  
Here's the thing i'm beginning to see more clearly.  I CAN do things to keep from dirtying my slate. Or in another way of looking at it;  My vessel - that which the Holy Spirit has entered through my declaration of accepting Jesus' sacrifice, and surrendering to His Lordship - can be kept clean.  My earnest endeavors to live in a godly manner ARE seen by my Father, and He delights in them.  
It's an interesting blend of facts.  I cannot make myself holy. I cannot present a clean vessel in order to earn my way into the kingdom. Only by accepting Jesus sacrifice, making Him Lord in my life brings me into the citizenship of His kingdom.  Only this will make me a daughter of the One True God - Father.  But in my devotion, in my obedience - out of love born from this immeasurable gift - I can, through the power of grace and the constant direction of the Holy Spirit, make the decisions, work or abstain, and live in such a manner that keeps my vessel clean. My heart - His home.  
He is coming for a holy bride, yes?  He is. So this holiness is not unattainable.  That simple fact alone has sparked a flame in me to pursue being this bride He comes for.