I don’t know about you, but life can get pretty crazy on our small piece of planet earth. We run hard and fast from sun up to sun down…almost always doing worthwhile things…but running nonetheless. My family was on an unexpected trip to San Antonio a few years ago to watch my son and his high school band compete in the state competition. We had a ball and shared some much needed family time. We had just dropped my sister off at the airport and were starting our long drive home. We were on the interstate and realized it was passed time to refuel and immediately began looking for an exit. Brian laughed as I went into a usual tizzy.

As I have looked at the picture I snapped of our control panel in the car, the Lord has reminded me yet again about the importance of refueling.

“Fuel level low. 0 Miles until empty.” Have you ever been there in a spiritual sense?

I have heard Dave Ramsey and others teach on the four quadrants of life: the urgent and important, the non-urgent but important, the urgent but unimportant, and the unimportant and non-urgent. I don’t know about you, but I can tell pretty quickly that I spend too much of my time doing things that seem urgent but may not be truly important. Let me see if I can explain. Some mornings I wake up and remember that I need to put a load of clothes in the dryer because the shirt my daughter needs that morning is still wet. Then I realize that we have 3 separate events that evening and won’t all be home until after 8:00 pm, so I need to put something in the crockpot for dinner. I still need to shower and get ready, fix breakfast, check homework and get the kids to school. My quiet time will have to wait. When my day starts in chaos it only multiplies by at least ten by 6:00 pm.

I may get everything checked off the to-do list, but when my head hits the pillow at night I am “zero miles till empty.”

Our low fuel episode on that trip reminds me that time with the Father is both urgent and important.  We aren’t able to give out what we do not have. I need to listen as the Father whispers affirmation and encouragement over me in the morning. I need to pay attention as He gives direction and answers to the many questions and situations taking place in my life. I need to give Him time to remind me of my calling and cover me in His armor so that I can walk that out. Tomorrow morning, if there are wet clothes in the washer and we have peanut butter and jelly for dinner…I will walk out my front door with the gauge reading FULL.

Blessings,