Falling Short

During a recent fasting experience, I made a commitment to God to increase my prayer time. One strategy was to set the alarm on the phone for a middle of the day time, go into the prayer chapel (at church where I work) and pray for at least 15 minutes. The first 2-3 days went as planned. In the days ahead, I missed appointments more than I kept them. I started to forget to set the alarm. Recognizing that I was falling short, I asked God for forgiveness and got back on track. How I wish that was the end of the story. No, again I got back off track. All I wanted to do was to keep a prayer appointment in the middle of the day. I experienced feelings of frustration ... disappointment ... anger with myself ... questions of why ... thoughts of how will I explain my shortcomings to my fast partners whom I was teaching and encouraging, and what will they think of me. 

 

Reminding my fast partners that "there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (see Romans 8:1) served as a reminder to me. Slowly, I began to realize that God never once reminded me that I had fallen short or that I had missed the mark. He never expressed frustration with me, not once did He indicate disappointment with me. He never beat me over the head or led me to be anxious and fretful. God the Holy Spirit was in me and with me as my Encourager, my Strength, my Helper, my Peace. God was right there all along, honoring and blessing my areas of faithfulness, willingness and obedience. 

Question to you -- how do you respond when you realize that you're falling short? More important question -- how does God respond when you fall short?