I vividly remember not too long ago just sitting at the computer. I thought while sitting there that I was doing something that was actually important. I wasn't studying. I wasn't looking up research of any kind. I was just on the computer for hours jumping from Facebook to Twitter to YouTube in one endless, but vicious cycle.

Little did I seem to realize that I was wasting precious time. Yes, precious time that I would waste blindly every single day.

With there being twenty-four hours in a day, I spent about eight hours sleeping (if that). Awaking from the eight hours of sleep, seven hours were then spent in school. Once I got home from school, two hours were used for "relaxing," a.k.a. my excuse for me being "tired" and not feeling like doing anything. After being frustrated about relaxing for longer than anticipated, three hours would be devoted to homework. Even then, it wasn't me doing three solid hour of homework, but instead the time was extended to three hours because of my going back and forth from homework to the computer. Finally, the other four hours were divided up between dinner, doing the dishes, taking a shower, squeezing in a movie, brushing my teeth, picking out something to wear the next day.

Oh, and my five or so minutes of forced "Bible Time."

This, dear reader, was a routine. It was a routine that was precisely engraved into my mind and was carried out throughout each day without fail and without change. My "five or so minutes of forced Bible Time," was more or less a guilt trip. I felt that if I didn't spend time with God, even for five minutes, then I wasn't doing what I was supposed to; so I figured I'd carelessly give Him the five minutes.

You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you. —Exodus 34:14 (NLT)

The verse here, is so very true.

I did not have the relationship with God that He wanted me to have with Him. I was a far cry from it. I was putting in those five minutes purely from guilt and not out of love. During those five minutes I'd say, "I want to be a better person" or "Help me grow to be the woman of God you want me to be." Yet, here I was, not putting in the necessary effort- selfless effort, to achieve such things.

God was longingly and lovingly wanting me to lay aside the wasted precious time and exchange it for an endless, lifelong journey with Him. He is a jealous God, but not a pushing or forceful God. All along, He had been asking me, "Jessica, won't you come talk to me for a bit?", and I would ignore Him. I refused to sacrifice the so-called important things in my life and give Him all of myself.

Over time since then, God has opened my eyes to time that I could be spending with Him, and now, I am happily spending that time with Him. "The Best Relationship is Our Relationship" can be said by anyone, if the time is placed into such a glorious thing. Everyone has the opportunity for that relationship. He longs to intimately embrace you as His child, even greater than He already does. He wants you to set aside the things that you may see as important, but really are pulling you further away from Him. It was the Internet and the act of becoming so absorbed with what others had to say and the little things going on, that were causing me to miss out on a monumental part of my life: My relationship with God.

"I am my lover's and he claims me as his own" (Song of Songs 7:10 NLT). God is the passionate lover of our souls and very beings. He has the ability to captivate every bone in our body to sacrifice for Him in all we do with all of our strength, care, trust, and love. Nothing should have this ability other than God Himself if we LET Him, because He is waiting patiently with open arms ready to hold you as the woman or man of God that you are.

Copyright © by Jessica Brown