Is It Time to Let Go?

Whew!  I just took Fiver for our first post-Piper walk down the neighborhood lane.  Along the way we met another neighbor walking her little black Dachshund, a Fed-X delivery van and a rather large red and white garbage truck… and Fiver did pretty good with those distractions.  It’s walking down the road in between the distractions that is going to take some more work though! 

He tends to get excited and pull when he is on the leash, so I got him a Rabbitgoo No-Pull Pet Harness… and yep… that really is the name of the brand!  It goes around his chest and attaches on his sides with a hook for the leash on the front as well as on the top/back.  The idea is that with the leash attached to the front hook, the dog won’t pull for when he attempts to do so, he will be turned sideways!  And it actually seemed to work.  What I noticed though, is that once he gets going on my left side, he tends to lean into me because the harness is leading him that way… and if I don’t watch out it would be easy for me to get tripped up with him!  So, we’ve got training ahead… for both of us!  

It was quite enjoyable to be outside in the early morning hour with the 50 some degrees of sun shining down on the country road, the dew reflecting like little diamonds on the grass and the birds singing their morning tunes… which if you listened closely, I think you’d hear a Southern Gospel twang to their chirps!

Okay… so maybe I’m joking about the Southern Gospel part, but anyway you look at it, as I walked along I couldn’t help but think that it was a beautiful day to be alive!  That is EXACTLY the way I like to start my day… how about you?

But as I’ve mentioned in past blog posts, since Piper moved on to glory almost two months ago now, mornings have been a little rough for me.  Rough in the sense that I haven’t felt like I have a real purpose to get up for without her.  It is not like I sit around the house feeling sorry for myself all day as I have always been sort of a determined and principled individual who likes to set goals and pursue them, so I always have something to do… its just that my days haven’t had that same pizzazz without that one special person with whom I have spent almost everyday with for the last 48 years… give or take a few work/ministry conventions or men’s conferences.

But that’s where scriptures like Psalm 118:24 come into play for me.  Here the psalmist encourages us by declaring: “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”  (KJV)  On those days when I haven’t had much motivation to get out of bed this scripture has been like Piper reaching over and shaking me while saying “Put a smile on your face and get up lazy-bones… we got stuff to do today, and rejoice about it!”

Now that kind of morning encouragement would get me up fast, complete with a good attitude!  She would give me a physical nudge to get my body moving in the right direction, and an earful of joyfully funny words to make me believe that everything we did that day was going to be a happy experience.

The Psalmist also gives us a nudge that affects our physical beings when he tells us to “rejoice” for if you recall, in the original languages, that word is describing the physical action of “spinning around” or “jumping for joy!”  So, the Lord is telling us through the Psalmist who penned the verse, to “get yourself up and spin around… whether you feel like it or not!”  And you know… I did that this morning and almost tripped over the dog who was laying in his bed at my feet!  But it did make me feel better (especially after the spinning in my head subsided…) and a little more excited for the new day ahead!

Then the Lord looks to our inner man by encouraging us to “rejoice” which literally means “to brighten up” or “to put (yourself) into a good frame of mind.”  So, you see… The Lord knows exactly what we need in the morning… especially when the weather outside is not nearly as conducive as it was to me today!

Have you ever finally given into doing something that you really weren’t comfortable with and were thankful afterwards that you did?  When Piper and I entered into the Charismatic Movement back in the seventies and early eighties, I wasn’t all that sure about all the activity that went on during the Praise and Worship parts of the services that we were beginning to frequent on a regular basis.  I was all into the raising of my hands, clapping and even swaying my body to the beat… but the jumping up and down, laughing or running around the room was a bit much for my conservative Catholic background!

And even though I was hungry for more of God and wanted to experience the fulness of what He had for me… I continued to resist for quite awhile even as Piper and I were by then, leading the music teams in many of those meetings.  After awhile we were asked to attend a special Praise and Worship training seminar at a large church in San Jose, California where they taught us music leaders from all over the Bay Area different ways to improve and enjoy the ways in which we presented the Word in song to our congregations.

Then during one of the services as the minister who had personally invited us was teaching on yielding to the Holy Spirit, she began to encourage all of us in attendance to let go of ourselves and to give into Him as the music team ministered to us.  Well, it was one of those times that I began to feel like the Lord was speaking only to me, and not the hundreds of others in that auditorium on that Saturday afternoon!

So… I put aside my pride and began to move… a little hop to begin with… a little laugh now and then… and before you knew it I was dancing in the Spirit before the Lord… and I didn’t care about what anyone else thought (besides they were all dancing in their own ways before Him as well… and you know… it wasn’t weird or wrong but almost looked like it was choregraphed throughout the room)!  So, what can I say?  I haven’t looked back since!  I am so happy that I decided to yield to His physical nudging and respond to His inner encouragement as it brought me into a whole deeper place in my worship of the Lord.

Since Piper passed on September 2^nd, Psalm 118:24 has had a renewed and more powerful effect on my daily life than ever before.  I am convinced that God is concerned about our physical and mental psyches just as much as He is our spiritual man.  So, do it!  Get up tomorrow, spin around and then begin to rejoice and be happy… especially if you don’t feel like it!  (You might want to get somewhere alone first… and make sure the dog isn’t laying at your feet!)

Have a rejoiceful and happy week, and as you do, say with me… “I am expectant of God’s joy to lead and encourage the way I think and act today!”