Haunted

   "So we are to live and move and have our being in God, to look at everything in relation to God, because the abiding consciousness of God pushes itself to the front all the time." (Oswald Chambers)

   The title of today's reading is What are you haunted by? Haunted in the regard of what thoughts are persistent in my mind, and what ideas and thoughts do I continually abide in.

   I look at my thoughts even so far this morning, when I sit here writing this at 8AM, after only being up for an hour or so. My wants, my needs, my plans, and my schedule dominate my conscious mind. There is a constant theme here...my, my, my.

   If there is a haunting realization in my life right now, it is the fact of what my mind concentrates on most of the time. Self absorption seems to rule, as God hovers on the edges of my life.

   This journal (or blog) is an exercise in self examination. Where do I stand in relation to the ideas that Chambers brings out in his writing? First of all, I try to understand what he is saying, and that is not always easy. Then I look at my life in regard to that and to the Scripture that he uses. The result is not often good.

   It is hard enough for me to concentrate on God when I am in the midst of this, much less when the things of the world close in around me in the rest of the day. If I am haunted by anything this morning, it is the self centeredness of my life.

   David's prayer in Psalm 25 is mine for today.

   "Guide me into your truth, and teach me.
    For you are the God who delivers me;
    on you I rely all day long."

   May it be so.