A Thought

We become the things we let consume our time. In the words of Frances de Sales, "We cannot help conforming ourselves to what we love." I don't know the effect this thought will have on you, but it altogether thrilled and terrified me.

I remember hanging out with a specific person when I was in middle school. When I'd come home after sleeping over at this friends house, my brother would say, "Why are you talking like ______?" Of course, I'd deny the resemblance and tell him to leave me alone, but on the inside, I reveled in the comparison. I thought my friend was funny, so the fact that I was unknowingly beginning to act like her didn't really bother me. Later, I'd realize that being your own person is fantastic and all that jazz, but my middle school self couldn't have cared less.

I'm realizing now just how easy it is to become like the things and people you love without even realizing it. If that doesn't frighten you a little, I don't think you've fully grasped just what that entails. If you had, you'd realize that it has multiple consequences. It means that you have to be careful who/what you allow to consume your time, yes, but it also means that if you claim to allow something/someone to consume your time, it will be very evident. For example, if you say God consumes your thoughts, outsiders will be very aware if He actually does. That is the scary part. The exciting part? If God really is consuming your thoughts and you really do love Him with every piece of who you are, you will begin to inexplicably become like Him.

I'm both nervous and enthusiastic about this entire concept, but I'm also a little relieved. I'm relieved because (for lack of a better term) you can't BS God. When I tell Him in every prayer that I love Him more than anything, He knows my heart and all the mess that keeps that statement from being wholly true. But it's because He knows my heart that I can start to pray, "God, I love you, but I want to love you even more." That fragile honesty is what my relationship with God depends upon, and I am so relieved that I can be honest with Him when I don't have it all together. That is the first step to being consumed by Him. And when He consumes us, we start to look like Him more and more each day.