Spiritual Blogs
Praying into Cracks
I have seasons in my life when I base my faith on sight and ability. I want to know what’s next. I convince myself that if I can conceive it in my mind then I can be secure in what’s to come, if I know what exactly it is I am waiting for I can wait more patiently. But that’s not faith. Faith is the exact opposite of this thinking. It’s me trusting the creator of the universe to blow my mind with the unconceivable, and there in lies the challenge.
Getting Past the ABC's - Annoyance, Bedlam, and Chaos
I’ve renamed the dogs. Let me introduce them. Annoyance is on the left. Bedlam is front and center and Chaos is on the right. They had tested me throughout the day yesterday, and it culminated this morning – about 4am. The older dog (Blackie, aka “Jackie”) usually sleeps on the floor at the foot of our bed. I suppose he wasn’t feeling well, since I was awakened to the sounds of him throwing up on my pillow – right next to my head. That was quite disgusting. It was annoying enough to be awakened – not to mention the need that followed to get out of bed to change the pillowcase. Thus his new nickname, Annoyance.
First Things First
I've always been a little amused at Jesus instruction in Matthew 6:33, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness...."Priority number one? Two things! #1, his kingdom; #1, his righteousness. How does that work? I don't think it was that he couldn't decide between the two. I think it's that you can't have one without the other.
This kingdom that he wants us to place at the top of our priority list--in the context of this scripture, contrasts a kingdom-priority with life's urgent demands that we are tempted to make our priorty: food, shelter and clothing. Jesus is telling us that his kindom (the church on earth and heaven in the afterlife) needs to be our primary concern and not to waste our energy on worry about accumulating life necessities. Certainly he wants us to be responsible in providing for our families, but he doesn't want it to rob our souls of the truly important thing--living faithfully in a community of believers with a focus on making it to heaven. He wants us to have a spiritual perspective on our values.
The second #1 is a pursuit of God's righteousness. Jesus wants us to be ever-mindful of our character development. He wants to imitate the righteousness of God and to grow to be more like him everyday. Jesus lived out that righteousness in his time here on earth and had his story recorded so we could know what perfect righteousness in human flesh looks like.
While the righteousness of God is unsearchable, we can know it includes obedience to his commands, an embodiment of the fruits of the Spirit and, above all, love. What a worthy and challenging pursuit Jesus laid out for our lives! It keeps us facing in the right direction, growing in our spirituality, emphasizing what really matters in life.
If we really let these two things be our first priority, we'll never get bored, never run out of things to strive for, and never be limited by our circumstances. First things first!
Fight Like a Girl!
There are times when what I know to be true about God does not resonate in my heart. I know God is good and sovereign but in a given moment I can feel vulnerable or unprotected. Our hearts are full of needs, fears and longings. Before I knew God I addressed those needs myself or tuned them out altogether. Although God has redeemed my heart, it can still be hard for me to engage it in the way he has designed me to. Sometimes, unknowingly, this results in me responding in ways that can come across cold or uncaring. In those moments he calls me to acknowledge and deal with what is in my heart in order to be able to live my life to the full, the life he redeemed me to live.
The Red "X"
For days now -- months actually, I've driven by these two trees. I always notice them, as each one displays a big red "X" on its trunk. I've wondered if the markings were graffiti, or if the trees were diseased and needed treatment, or if they were perhaps marked for cutting. However, I surmised that if they were to be cut down, they would not need large red X's to distinguish them -- as they were the only trees in this particular front yard.
Hope
Hope is a tricky commodity. False hope can be comforting in the short term, but devastating if the outcome differs from what you desire. "Hope deferred makes the heart sick" (Proverbs 13:12), so waiting for a longing to be fulfilled is risking deep discouragement.
Pause on Purpose
I’ve been taking the time to pause in a given moment and not allow my thoughts to run away or plow-over the moment. Sometimes, I can overthink all the fun out of the present as I allow my thoughts to wonder down some hypothetical scenario. I can question my own abilities and talents. This week has been different and as a result I have felt so much more alive and content.
Loving God's Version of Love
As I rode into work today, I listened to a local radio station talking about Marriage. I was prepared for them to be unable to do it justice as all four anchors are less than imitable in the marriage department. The topic of their discussion was "Men looking to brag about their marriage".
Obedience is UNDERrated!
Obedience training has begun. My husband is working with our little pup, teaching him four basic commands - sit, stay, come and no. These are the commands, that when fully trained, Denver should respond to immediately – and always. I look forward to his increased obedience as he matures. He will not only be pleasant to live with, but he will be much safer.
Hitting Pause Before Hitting Send
I knew the millisecond after I hit “send” that I shouldn’t have. It was late, and in the moment it seemed of utmost importance that I send that email right away, but it wasn’t. It was one of those emails that seems so timely, precise and on topic. It’s only after I hit send I realize I should have probably waited a day, or at least ten minutes. The embarrassment flushed my face and turned my stomach.
