4.3.22

Last week I was hanging out with my friend Jake, and we were talking over a cigar. (I’ve heard it said that God gave men cigars so they would talk to each other for more than 5 minutes – might be true, ha!) Jake is married and his wife had been out of town for about a week. I asked him how he had been doing on his own, and he gave me a kind of funny yet honest reply.

He said with a laugh, “It sounds kinda bad, but I do okay on my own. I can keep the house clean and do my own laundry… It’s kind of nice getting what I want to eat and watching the shows I want to watch on TV.” He took a brief pause and a seriousness crept into his voice as he continued, “But without Nicki, my days can only ever be so good. My best days are always with her… always.”

The longing I felt from my friend for his wife was convicting and made me think about my relationship with Jesus. If I’m being honest with myself, some days I neglect that relationship. Some days I don’t have the longing for Jesus I should have. Some days I feel like I throw Jesus on the back burner. Some days I hit the snooze button instead of spending time with him. Some days I immediately start checking off boxes on my to-do list without spending time with the one who gives meaning and purpose to the items on the list. Sure, sometimes those days can feel like they turn out to be good days… but they can only ever be so good. My best days are always spent living in relationship with Jesus. Spending time with Jesus brings joy, peace, patience, goodness, and self-control to my life which I could never access on my own… especially when going through the challenging days.

In one of his songs, Matt Redman sings,

“For here my heart is satisfied

Within Your presence

I sing beneath the shadow of Your wings

Better is one day in Your courts

Than thousands elsewhere.”

Thank you to my friend for the reminder that I don’t need to settle for good days. You don’t either. Thankfully, Jesus never stops pursuing you and me, and he claims, “I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). It doesn’t matter if I’m walking on a mountain or through a valley, my best days are always with Jesus.

My prayer today comes from Psalm 27, “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.”