Cease Striving

There are two themes that seem to continue to show up in my quiet times with God recently. The verses I have sifted through and devotions I have been reading all lead me to ask myself the same two questions:

1. What am I striving for?
2. What is my mind set on?

So, to address number one:

I hear God telling me, "Cease striving! Be still, know that I am God!" I hear him telling me to quit guessing his agenda or creating my own but to trust that his plans are good. Yet I still strive for my own agenda. I try to fit my plans into God's, as if my ideas are actually better! How often do we do that?

While reading a devotional my parents gave me by Sarah Young, I was reminded and convicted of the one thing to be striving for. Two verses really hit me:

The first, "Seek the Lord and his strength. Seek his presence continually." Psalm 105:4

The second (I added my name, more dramatic that way), "Sarah, Sarah you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. They have chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from them." Luke 10:41-42

Only one thing is necessary. Most often, I have chosen everything but the one thing. Each time, it has led me down a path of anxiousness, uncertainty, fear, fleeting joy, depression. It is a path filled with constant striving. Burdens aren't lifted for more than mere moments. So why do we keep choosing it? I want to choose the good portion- the portion that won't be taken from me. In order for that to be true, I know I need to seek the Lord- only the Lord and his strength. That means I can't seek after a husband, the perfect job, a new city, more things. If I am choosing the good portion, then I am choosing to seek His presence continually.

Sometimes just thinking about that choice overwhelms me. It is too easy for the one thing that is necessary to become the 2, 4, 10 things that mistakenly feel necessary. I don't want to be troubled and anxious about many things, I want the one thing. The good portion.

In Sarah Young's devotional, she said this is what God is asking of us,"Come to me with an open mind and heart, inviting me to plant my desires within you." When I think about it that way, it's a little less daunting to pick the one thing. I just have to let God do the work, give over the reins, and he will do the planting. He will foster a desire for the one thing. Will you let him?