I burned olive oil this morning. Olive oil spray from a can to be exact. How does one do that you ask? You spray a pan with it, put the pan on the stove, turn the eye on to heat up and then don’t watch it and do something else until it turns dark brown and starts smoking.

 

It really is that easy. Here is a picture to prove it.

 

If you have been following my blog, you’ll see I’m trying to change my morning routine from something that looks like one of my hung over mornings from my early 20’s, without the alcohol these days of course, into a Disney themed fairy tale of twinkling smiles and waking up with a perfect hair bow strategically placed to boot.

 

You get the idea.

 

I’m trying to be a morning person. I’m trying to set my day in motion. I’m not just doing this for kicks, trust me. I’ve been working on imagining my day and what I want it to look like.  Refer to this blog post to see why and what I’m talking about.

 

To accomplish the things I want to accomplish, I have to get my day started the right way. That means with God. Last night, I had some pretty horrible dreams. Horrible enough to wake up and not like the feeling I had. I didn’t sleep well and I just didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. I didn’t feel like going to work. I didn’t feel like getting up and thanking God. I wanted to sleep. I wanted to get comfortable. I wanted to do what I wanted to do. Guess what I did though? I dragged myself out of bed, made the bed and thanked God anyways. I raised my arms in worship to Him anyways.

 

I can’t go by what I feel. I was feeling yucky because of some bad dreams. How do I get rid of the yucky feelings? Paul said to King Agrippa in Acts 26:2 that he thinks himself happy. That’s what I did this morning. Feelings change. I have control over how I feel so I changed how I felt. I “thinked” myself happy. No, not good English, just go with it. Within a couple of minutes of praising God I was able to shake off those yucky feelings and get happy. I was able to change the course of my day.

 

Read that again. You need to understand this. I WAS ABLE TO CHANGE THE COURSE OF MY DAY.

 

I could have continued in the yuck but I didn’t want to. I knew I had a choice not to. I chose not to. I chose to change the course of my day by thanking God and lifting my hands to Him first. If He’s first, everything else will work out for the good.

 

So as I felt my body wake up quicker than I originally wanted it to, my brain kicked in to high gear with ideas and plans. I was mapping things out in my head as I fumbled into the kitchen to cook breakfast. I googled something on my phone and I was trying to cook eggs and make coffee all at the same time. Multi-tasking at its finest.

 

I found an article on Warren Buffett that caught my attention and the next thing I knew I was reading 29 quotes by him and trying to gauge where that fit in and could be applied to the plans my husband and I have. I’m a firm believer in studying the habits of successful people and seeing how I can apply those habits, weighing them against the Word first of course.

Next thing I know, I looked over at the pan I had heating up and I had burned the oil. I had to wash the pan and start over.

 

It struck me that I burned the olive oil. I have a blue glass bottle I keep on my vanity that I put olive oil in. I use it for anointing oil when I pray over our home or us. I thought about that bottle when I looked at the burned olive oil in the pan.

 

The olive oil in the pan is a spray that I use for cooking and I’ll admit I chuckled when I pictured myself using a can of spray olive oil in my prayer time. Can you picture your pastor pulling a can of spray oil out from behind the pulpit and anointing someone before they prayed over them? A little squirt on the head and good to go. Shake the can and squirt the next one in line at the altar. At a large altar call just start at one end and take off running never letting off the nozzle! Hit them all at once! It would sure keep people from peeking when they are told “every head bowed and every eye closed.” I can’t imagine oil sprayed in the eyes feels good. Really, you need to close your eyes and imagine this. Have a good laugh right now.

 

Seriously though, the burned oil caught my attention. After me and God had a good laugh, I thought about what happens to the anointing if we ignore it. It burns up. It fizzles out. It’s rendered useless. You have to wash it off and start over. It turns to sludge.

 

How much of God’s provision do we waste? How much of the move of the Spirit do we ignore? How often are we distracted by other things and miss out on His blessings?  I made us both behind schedule this morning because I had to start over. I couldn’t drop our eggs- our food, our nourishment- into that pan of yuck. It would have made the food gross.  I don’t want gross food. I don’t want gross Word. I don’t want gross blessings. It’s not really a blessing then, is it?

 

I want things done just right. I want things done on time. I want good food. God told me to keep my pace, not be overwhelmed, don’t burn the oil. Don’t get ahead of myself. One thing at a time. Stay focused. If I do, it will all come together like a hot meal at breakfast cooked to perfection and right on time.

 

I love laughing with God and learning at the same time.

 

Psalm 45:7 (KJV)

Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.