Prone To Wander

I love when Pam Sikorski (my favorite Lady of England) says, “Do you have all your bits and pieces?” It’s far more descriptive and quaint than the American “all your stuff” or “things.” I like to think that my life is full of bits and pieces… bits that I’ve borrowed, accrued or acquired and pieces that have fallen my way. One of my favorite bits of hymnody is Robert Robinson’s phrase, “tune my heart to sing Thy praise.” I think I’m drawn to this spiritual snippet because of Robinson’s vulnerable honesty that confesses in the last stanza of this great hymn (Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing), “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.” I don’t think that the Christian heart ever entertains spiritual mutiny or designs to betray its first love… however; we struggle with being wandering sheep who can be unwittingly lured away from the safety of the flock. We are like instruments that if not tuned daily with praise will slowly go out of tune until all that remains is a discordant sound unpleasant to both ear and soul. Praise can not be taken for granted! It tunes your day and combats the natural tendency to wander.

The challenge here is to cultivate mature worship in our lives. All of my children had to be watched closely when they were toddlers because they were fascinated with kitties. If a kitty wandered down the street they would follow in pursuit oblivious to their surroundings as they held their arms opened and called out, “kitty.” Likewise, we remain spiritual toddlers if we do not train ourselves to cultivate a life of praise. Worship is not just a church experience, that is, it only happens in a church setting on church time with church bits and pieces. Worship is recognition of God in the moment. We beat our tendency to wander when we take seriously Jesus promise to be with us and He truly becomes the same today, yesterday and forever! Then our vision becomes clear and we can see “streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for sounds of loudest praise!”

So worship God this week… on your way to the mall sing at the top of your lungs a song of praise… take a twilight stroll and pray every step of the way… look someone in the eye and wink, “You know I like Christmas because it begins with ‘Christ!’” And hey, if you find yourself following a kitty down an unfamiliar street –stop, drop and roll because you’re in danger. Then ask God to tune your heart to sing His praise! -DAN

P.S. If you read Mike Cope's blog then... yes, I was inspired (bit and pieced) by him.