Autopilot

I remember when we first moved to the small town of Ontario from Salt Lake City.  The kids and I arrived first because school was starting.  My Pastor husband didn’t start his new job for at least a month, so every weekend we would head back to SLC.  Tim and I would pack; the kids would hang with their friends.  We traveled that road so much I began to believe the car could drive the route on autopilot.

Sometimes we live on autopilot.  It may be because we are in a good rhythm. It could be because we’re emotionally exhausted, so we just do the next thing, and the next, and the next.  There are times we are in a season of waiting and we don’t know what to do except what we’ve always done.  During times of grief, we function on autopilot because we are in survival mode.  When we are learning something new, chunks of our lives are operated automatically because our mental energies are focused elsewhere.

And let me just say: It. Is. Okay.

We just came through the season of Lent and the celebration of Easter. Somewhere in my head I perceive I should be living a utopia of exuberance due to freshly experiencing the wonder of God’s grace and hope. I’m not.  Monday came after Easter Sunday just like every other week. 

Every weekend ends and a Monday follows.  Life marches forward.  Sometimes we aren’t ready for the every-day-ness that Monday brings.  Know what I mean? In those moments do you tend to slip into autopilot and just go through the motions of life? Do you wonder why you don’t feel joy or gratefulness the way you think you should? Are you like me?

When life shifts into autopilot, we need to carve out moments to live in Psalm 27:4.

“I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking Him in His temple.” (CSB)

The Psalmist reveals 3 things we can do amid the every-day-ness of life.

1. Talk to God about your desire for Him. The Psalmist only wanted to be with God.  I know I am not always that dedicated, and I know God wants me to seek Him. Acts 17: 27 says God intended for us to seek after Him so that we could find Him.  Matthew 6:33 tells us to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness first, before anything else.
2.  Focus on how beautiful God is. When we dwell on the glory and wonder and goodness of God our thoughts and our attitudes change.  In Romans 12:2 we are told “…let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think…” (NLT) God longs for us to see life from His holy perspective.  What better way to alter how we perceive our daily life than to be focused on how glorious and wonderful and magnificent God is?
3. Seek to know God better in the company of others.  The Psalmist says he sought God in His temple.  It’s where he knew God was, and it’s where everyone else was seeking God as well.  Learning with and from others reminds us we are all on a journey, and we all have a way to go! God did not mean for us to deal with life as individuals.  He gifted us community to strengthen us and to enable us to see Him more clearly.

David, the author of Psalm 27, writes about fighting his enemies.  He’s experiencing significant danger in his day-to-day living.  I can’t imagine a daily life with such turmoil. Yet His declaration of certainty toward the end of Psalm 27 is what our every-day-battle longs for.  “I am certain that I will see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.” (verse 13, CSB) On Monday, when Sunday seems like it was a month before, I want to know God’s goodness.  Don’t you?  God’s goodness can be discovered when we talk with Him, focus our thoughts on Him, and put forth the effort to learn more about Him, on our own and with others.

I’m praying you will be able to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8) when Monday rolls around again.