I like to walk. I do not do it as much as I should, but I really like to walk.
Walk fast. Walk intentionally. Walk in silence.
I do not usually walk with music. My Muse goes with me.
Usually, my Muse goes by the name Holy Spirit. Some days the inspiration comes through the breeze in the palm trees lining my walk. Other times, it is the gentle reminder God’s first language was silence and he can speak volumes without saying a word.
He had a lot to say the other day.
I was actually walking to work when the single thought, “I had a great _____ except _____.” There were really blanks in the thought. It just hung there like a picture in front of my face.
I thought about how often I say things like that. I can have a magnificent day and focus on the minute things which did not go my way. I can share the most amazing meal and focus on the one tidbit that was just a wee bit overdone. I overlook the company, the setting, the beauty and the blessings poured out on us daily. I can focus like a laser beams to spotlight the exceptions.
Now, I could go on about how we should focus on the positive. Be happy. Be content. The truth of human nature is we tend to revert back to our old wiring. New wiring is possible, but it takes work and time.
What if we just use the old wiring for a new purpose?
Let’s make it a practice to look for the “exceptions” in our life, our year, our day, our moment. Let us find the “exceptions” in ourselves.
Here are a few exceptions to remember:
Let us remember no one except who the Son reveals him to, know the Father.
Matthew 11:27-28 (NIV)
27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Let us know there is no way, no truth and no life except through Jesus to the Father.
John 14:6 (NIV)
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Let us have eyes so that we do not see anyone except Jesus.
Matthew 17:8(NIV)
8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
Let us travel through this life dependent on nothing else except God’s provision.
Mark 6:8-9 (NIV)
8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt.
Let us not speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished in us and through us.
Romans 15:18 (NIV)
I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me…
Galatians 6:14 (NIV)
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
There are more in scripture. More “exceptions”. More reasons to stop and marvel at the love of God. I invite you to find them and write them down. Know them.
Use them on the days when you want to start looking for exceptions to the beauty and majesty in your life. Use them to counteract the need to find the smallest fault in anything or anyone.
You are an exception. You are a child of God.
Focus on that for a season.
Be Blessed.