This is entry #100!
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I think the opening explanation of the "new" commandments Jesus gave is great. The basic idea is that the Old Testament was an old way of doing things (OLD, not wrong): based on tradition, following written rules, motivated by God's judgment. The new was is based on our dependence on God's power, following in Jesus' living example, motivated by the ultimate act of God's love.
Sometimes we get into an "old" way of loving; the people in our lives become the victims of habitual acts. We start to treat people "nicely" out of a feeling of commitment, and as long as we are fulfilling our obligations (food is on the table, saying what is wanted to be heard, "listening" to others), we must be doing it right. However, the attitude behind this is one of complacency. We can't allow our relationships to become just part of the routine. It's really easy to look at the people we spend time with and approach them with the attitude of "mutual consent to mutual advantage," which basically means that we choose to spend time with people and give them what they are looking for because we gain something of value from them in return. This may or may not be true in every relationship, but either way that's a very businesslike way to approach people. And we are called to love everyone, so if there isn't "mutual advantage," then too bad!
So how do we get away from this old way of loving? Two things will help. First, we have to start putting ourselves back into that emotional spot where we were when we first loved that person/those persons. Again, just because we don't feel like loving doesn't mean we can't love- it's a choice and an action that precedes the feeling, not the other way around. Second, we have to realize that we can't always do it, but God can! He wouldn't tell us that we HAVE to love others if He weren't going to provide a way for that to happen! It's not about psyching yourself up; it's about getting yourself out of the way! And that's tough. But no one ever said life was going to be an easy journey. And things that are worth having are worth working for, including loving relationships.
Point to Ponder: God will never command you to do something he will not give you the power to do.
This is a comforting idea, but sometimes it's still hard to apply. For me, I get in the mindset of, "but I HAVE to do this!" The problem isn't the "HAVE" but the "I." I have to realize sometimes that I can't do what God wants me to do in my own strength. And more importantly, I don't have to rely on my own power! It's an easy concept to understand, but again it's not always easy to put into practice.
Verse to Remember: 1 John 4:8- "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears in not made perfect in love."
It's so easy to worry, to fear the future, to be afraid of messing things up. If we'd just give those things over to Jesus' care, we would probably live a lot less stressful lives.
Question to Consider: How can I take a love that's old and allow God to make it new?
Well, I think this goes back to what I was saying a couple of days ago. We need to be sure to show proper appreciation for the people who play important roles in our lives. I think we lose the wonder of relationships when they start to become "just a part of life." But if we consistently see those people as blessings of God, and realize that they are choosing to do things for you in the same way you choose to do things for them, it becomes easier to love them in the same way you used to.
7/28/2010
7/27/2010
Day 9: The Power of Jesus' Command
I spent the day with the Uppercue's and I am spent, so no entry tonight. I'll catch it up tomorrow morning.
LATER: Or tomorrow afternoon. Whatever works.
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"You cannot command an emotion, but you can command an action."
Great, great opening statement. I try to explain this to my students (in the sense that just because you don't feel like doing something doesn't mean that you are entitled to not doing it), but it usually doesn't work, mostly because a)our culture tells us that whatever we "feel" is right is what we should do and b)people are selfish. I have problems with both of those things, and I think most people do. It's WAY easier to start doing something we want to do than it is to do something we don't really want to do. It's also real easy to keep looking out for ourselves and what we can get out of life instead of looking to see what we can contribute to the lives of others. That's just part of human nature.
There's an interesting concept to help us counteract those things, at least when it comes to relationships. The idea of "nevertheless love" is an interesting one. The idea that, "I don't feel like doing this, but nevertheless, God wants me to, so I will do it," has the power to completely turn around some relationship issues. Again, the way the action/feeling formula works is that we act first and feel later. It might take some time before the feelings get to the place where we want them, but regardless of the struggle, we are called to ACTION, not to emotion. It's really easy to get discouraged and give up: easy to feel that God has left us. But it is in those moments where God is taking us through the process of strengthening our faith. Too often we run into a wall as we pursue our goal and think, "Well, clearly I was headed in the wrong direction," and drop whatever we were pursuing! God's goal for us is total dependence, and we can't get that until we hit those walls and realize how impossible it is to live in our own strength. And we don't get to those places until we start to say, "nevertheless, Lord, I will do it."
Point to Ponder: If you've stopped feeling love, the first step is to begin to act with love again.
Another challenging concept- no one wants to act on a feeling they don't have! This is mostly because we get caught up in thinking that emotions should control our actions, instead of realizing that it should be the other way around.
Verse to Remember: Galatians 6:9- "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
I love Galatians. The next verse in this chapter tells us to do good to all people, and especially to our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is a very encouraging statement, especially when we are starting to feel burnt out and wonder why we are doing what we are doing. It's easy to get tired of doing good things, especially when you end up in a situation where people are not necessarily expressing appreciation, or (even worse) are downright ungrateful. On the flip side, it's really easy to continue to help out people whom you like and enjoy spending the time with, regardless of the situation. In both circumstances, though, we are called not to get tired of doing good nor to give up.
Question to Consider: Is there someone I don't feel like loving whom I need to love?
Isn't there always? OK, I shouldn't say that so glibly. Although I'm generally a nice person, I can also fall into being a "nice" person, which is not a very loving way to treat someone else. There are some people that I'm "nice" to that I need to get rid of the falseness and just be nice to.
LATER: Or tomorrow afternoon. Whatever works.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You cannot command an emotion, but you can command an action."
Great, great opening statement. I try to explain this to my students (in the sense that just because you don't feel like doing something doesn't mean that you are entitled to not doing it), but it usually doesn't work, mostly because a)our culture tells us that whatever we "feel" is right is what we should do and b)people are selfish. I have problems with both of those things, and I think most people do. It's WAY easier to start doing something we want to do than it is to do something we don't really want to do. It's also real easy to keep looking out for ourselves and what we can get out of life instead of looking to see what we can contribute to the lives of others. That's just part of human nature.
There's an interesting concept to help us counteract those things, at least when it comes to relationships. The idea of "nevertheless love" is an interesting one. The idea that, "I don't feel like doing this, but nevertheless, God wants me to, so I will do it," has the power to completely turn around some relationship issues. Again, the way the action/feeling formula works is that we act first and feel later. It might take some time before the feelings get to the place where we want them, but regardless of the struggle, we are called to ACTION, not to emotion. It's really easy to get discouraged and give up: easy to feel that God has left us. But it is in those moments where God is taking us through the process of strengthening our faith. Too often we run into a wall as we pursue our goal and think, "Well, clearly I was headed in the wrong direction," and drop whatever we were pursuing! God's goal for us is total dependence, and we can't get that until we hit those walls and realize how impossible it is to live in our own strength. And we don't get to those places until we start to say, "nevertheless, Lord, I will do it."
Point to Ponder: If you've stopped feeling love, the first step is to begin to act with love again.
Another challenging concept- no one wants to act on a feeling they don't have! This is mostly because we get caught up in thinking that emotions should control our actions, instead of realizing that it should be the other way around.
Verse to Remember: Galatians 6:9- "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
I love Galatians. The next verse in this chapter tells us to do good to all people, and especially to our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is a very encouraging statement, especially when we are starting to feel burnt out and wonder why we are doing what we are doing. It's easy to get tired of doing good things, especially when you end up in a situation where people are not necessarily expressing appreciation, or (even worse) are downright ungrateful. On the flip side, it's really easy to continue to help out people whom you like and enjoy spending the time with, regardless of the situation. In both circumstances, though, we are called not to get tired of doing good nor to give up.
Question to Consider: Is there someone I don't feel like loving whom I need to love?
Isn't there always? OK, I shouldn't say that so glibly. Although I'm generally a nice person, I can also fall into being a "nice" person, which is not a very loving way to treat someone else. There are some people that I'm "nice" to that I need to get rid of the falseness and just be nice to.
7/26/2010
Day 8: The Impossible Challenge
Yeah. . . there are a bunch of unfinished entries. I will get to them eventually (hopefully before I go up to Georgia, since I'll probably get even more behind up there).
This week is all about how to "Love as Jesus Loves You."
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This is a short but potentially life changing chapter. At the very least it has made me think. This chapter (and week I think) is how we relate to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
I think just the mere fact that we are called to love others as He loves us is mind boggling. Think about it (well, as much as you can wrap your mind around it anyway): He gave up His divinity to become a human being, deal with all kinds of people (everything from innocent to vulgar, willing to stubborn, loving to hateful) for 33 years, and then turn around and die for all of them. Are we able to love others like that? Could we give up our everything for the sake of another? As good intentioned as we might be, no one on Earth can answer that question with an affirmative response and not be lying.
So then what hope do we have? Well, the point is that we CAN'T and NEVER will be able to love as God loves until we look to have Him love through us. Jesus told us we can move mountains with faith and prayer, and that we can walk on water if we don't doubt, and the only thing that gets in the way of those things happening is (you guessed it) US. We are too busy being humans and failing and blaming our failures on power we don't have when we don't even realize that we've already figured out the answer: we don't have the power! And as long as we keep trying to do things on our own, we will keep failing. Jesus asks us to do impossible things, not because he expects us to do them by ourselves, but instead to frustrate us into realizing how much we can't do it without HIM. For me, I find that it's easy to have faith in some parts of my life, but I struggle in others. Why doesn't that transfer? Why don't I see the wonderful things God does over here and still say, "But this is different- I've got to step in and do something or it's never going to happen!" I'm starting to learn to trust Him with my relationships. I know one thing I need to be more aware of is that He sets up EVERY situation/scenario/circumstance, and each of those is an opportunity to give it over to Him and find out what He has in store, rather than me just barreling through and messing things up. Anything and everything, from running into someone at the store to working on a project to responding to Facebook messages provides an opportunity for me to let go and say, "God, love this person through me." Hopefully, through the course of this book, that kind of attitude will start to become a habit and eventually become part of my lifestyle.
For now, I am going to try and approach the rest of today remembering how impossible it is for me to be the loving person my Savior wants me to be and instead letting Him be my source of love.
Point to Ponder: Jesus doesn't want us to try our hardest; he wants us to learn to trust in him.
When it comes to relationships, what can we do but rely on the relationship master? If God had given humans His capacity to love, we wouldn't be human. Unfortunately love is one of those things that Satan twists so easily. We say we love because of an emotional response we feel, or out of obligation (for example, family or colleagues), but we forget what God said love truly is.
Verse to Remember: John 13:34- "A new command I give to you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."
Command is a strong word. Must is also quite strong. This isn't a suggestion. This is something we're supposed to do. And I think once we open ourselves to the idea that God is in control of everything, it becomes a lot easier to love other people (see below).
Question to consider: How can I trust Jesus for the impossible in a relationship?
I think it takes seeing how unsuccessful we are when we try to make relationships work in our own strength to realize how much we need Jesus to take over. We might be successful for a while, but ultimately something comes up that begins to tear us apart, and then we freak out (well, at least I do, but I'm a bit of an emotional spaz). But once we start taking the focus off ourselves and what we can do, we can begin to let God work in us and through us. I think that's one thing I have seen in my relationships with the people in my Sunday School class; on both conscious and unconscious levels, Jesus is the one who has brought us together. I mean, I don't think most strangers walk into a classroom and immediately get taken into the group as if they were always a part of it, and yet I feel like that's what happened to me. Impossible? Humanly, yes. But I truly believe God was preparing them for me, and I them, because nothing else can explain why I developed those friendships. None of us are perfect by any means, but I think we all are pursuing individually our relationships with Jesus, and the encouragement and fellowship we draw from each other feeds off the mutual brotherhood we have as children of God.
This week is all about how to "Love as Jesus Loves You."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a short but potentially life changing chapter. At the very least it has made me think. This chapter (and week I think) is how we relate to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
I think just the mere fact that we are called to love others as He loves us is mind boggling. Think about it (well, as much as you can wrap your mind around it anyway): He gave up His divinity to become a human being, deal with all kinds of people (everything from innocent to vulgar, willing to stubborn, loving to hateful) for 33 years, and then turn around and die for all of them. Are we able to love others like that? Could we give up our everything for the sake of another? As good intentioned as we might be, no one on Earth can answer that question with an affirmative response and not be lying.
So then what hope do we have? Well, the point is that we CAN'T and NEVER will be able to love as God loves until we look to have Him love through us. Jesus told us we can move mountains with faith and prayer, and that we can walk on water if we don't doubt, and the only thing that gets in the way of those things happening is (you guessed it) US. We are too busy being humans and failing and blaming our failures on power we don't have when we don't even realize that we've already figured out the answer: we don't have the power! And as long as we keep trying to do things on our own, we will keep failing. Jesus asks us to do impossible things, not because he expects us to do them by ourselves, but instead to frustrate us into realizing how much we can't do it without HIM. For me, I find that it's easy to have faith in some parts of my life, but I struggle in others. Why doesn't that transfer? Why don't I see the wonderful things God does over here and still say, "But this is different- I've got to step in and do something or it's never going to happen!" I'm starting to learn to trust Him with my relationships. I know one thing I need to be more aware of is that He sets up EVERY situation/scenario/circumstance, and each of those is an opportunity to give it over to Him and find out what He has in store, rather than me just barreling through and messing things up. Anything and everything, from running into someone at the store to working on a project to responding to Facebook messages provides an opportunity for me to let go and say, "God, love this person through me." Hopefully, through the course of this book, that kind of attitude will start to become a habit and eventually become part of my lifestyle.
For now, I am going to try and approach the rest of today remembering how impossible it is for me to be the loving person my Savior wants me to be and instead letting Him be my source of love.
Point to Ponder: Jesus doesn't want us to try our hardest; he wants us to learn to trust in him.
When it comes to relationships, what can we do but rely on the relationship master? If God had given humans His capacity to love, we wouldn't be human. Unfortunately love is one of those things that Satan twists so easily. We say we love because of an emotional response we feel, or out of obligation (for example, family or colleagues), but we forget what God said love truly is.
Verse to Remember: John 13:34- "A new command I give to you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."
Command is a strong word. Must is also quite strong. This isn't a suggestion. This is something we're supposed to do. And I think once we open ourselves to the idea that God is in control of everything, it becomes a lot easier to love other people (see below).
Question to consider: How can I trust Jesus for the impossible in a relationship?
I think it takes seeing how unsuccessful we are when we try to make relationships work in our own strength to realize how much we need Jesus to take over. We might be successful for a while, but ultimately something comes up that begins to tear us apart, and then we freak out (well, at least I do, but I'm a bit of an emotional spaz). But once we start taking the focus off ourselves and what we can do, we can begin to let God work in us and through us. I think that's one thing I have seen in my relationships with the people in my Sunday School class; on both conscious and unconscious levels, Jesus is the one who has brought us together. I mean, I don't think most strangers walk into a classroom and immediately get taken into the group as if they were always a part of it, and yet I feel like that's what happened to me. Impossible? Humanly, yes. But I truly believe God was preparing them for me, and I them, because nothing else can explain why I developed those friendships. None of us are perfect by any means, but I think we all are pursuing individually our relationships with Jesus, and the encouragement and fellowship we draw from each other feeds off the mutual brotherhood we have as children of God.
Week 1 In Review
The theme of this past week was: "Place the Highest Value on Relationships."
What do some of the popular songs about love say about our common beliefs about love?
Popular love songs aren't about love at all. They are either about lust, convenience, feelings, or cheap entertainment. Listen to any random radio station and you'll find that we're so wrapped up in our selfish pursuits that we miss out on some great opportunities to truly love and be loved.
Does it bother you when you see the potential of your relationships and you're nowhere near meeting it? What do you do with this feeling?
Of course; I'm sure it bothers most people. Lately I've been trying to seek out the answer from God, whether in His Word or in being aware of how people act and trying to be more sensitive to acting in a way that I would want people to act towards me. I'm finding that I've been getting some answers, but there are still things for me to learn, and still frustrations, and I still feel inadequate. That's why we're supposed to rely on Him, because we really can't do it. Now if I can just get that into my stubborn head. . .
In Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan, which seems the greater risk to you: helping in the immediate crisis, or coming back to follow up? Why?
Coming back to check up seems more dangerous to me. It's one thing to help a stranger out, and entirely something else to check on that same person. People start to question your motives (maybe even the stranger) and who knows what craziness will ensue. Again, most people would at least help someone out in a tight spot, but to continue service is a rarity, and people don't like it when others do things that are out of place with the way they see the world working.
How do you make love the highest priority when there is so much to do in your life?
First, we have to stop thinking that doing a bunch of stuff is going to fill the holes in our lives. Staying busy is not the cure for living a fulfilling life; having quality relationships with people is way more satisfying, and having a relationship with God is really the only way to fill our lives (and in turn, we will find our horizontal relationships flourishing when our vertical one is aligned). Second, we've got to realize how many opportunities we have to interact with PEOPLE and not ignore them. In fact, love should be the primary way in which we interact with any person, since we're supposed to love everyone we run across. I think just having those two attitudes will help us to make huge strides in learning how to love.
Who is the most loving person you have ever known? How did they show love to others?
I have an answer, but I won't say who it is. How do they show love? Well: they are someone that opens their home to many strange people and gives them lots of great food, who is always open for a conversation about anything, who loves God and trusts in His plan for her and her family, and who just generally looks out for the best for everyone she comes across. She cares for her children without babying them and being completely realistic about what is possible and what is not.
In what relationship(s) do you need to show more of God's love? What would be a practical first step?
I think I can work on having more God love in all my relationships. A good first step? Stop focusing on what others can do for me (but when they are doing something, being thankful for that) and focus on what I can do for others.
What do some of the popular songs about love say about our common beliefs about love?
Popular love songs aren't about love at all. They are either about lust, convenience, feelings, or cheap entertainment. Listen to any random radio station and you'll find that we're so wrapped up in our selfish pursuits that we miss out on some great opportunities to truly love and be loved.
Does it bother you when you see the potential of your relationships and you're nowhere near meeting it? What do you do with this feeling?
Of course; I'm sure it bothers most people. Lately I've been trying to seek out the answer from God, whether in His Word or in being aware of how people act and trying to be more sensitive to acting in a way that I would want people to act towards me. I'm finding that I've been getting some answers, but there are still things for me to learn, and still frustrations, and I still feel inadequate. That's why we're supposed to rely on Him, because we really can't do it. Now if I can just get that into my stubborn head. . .
In Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan, which seems the greater risk to you: helping in the immediate crisis, or coming back to follow up? Why?
Coming back to check up seems more dangerous to me. It's one thing to help a stranger out, and entirely something else to check on that same person. People start to question your motives (maybe even the stranger) and who knows what craziness will ensue. Again, most people would at least help someone out in a tight spot, but to continue service is a rarity, and people don't like it when others do things that are out of place with the way they see the world working.
How do you make love the highest priority when there is so much to do in your life?
First, we have to stop thinking that doing a bunch of stuff is going to fill the holes in our lives. Staying busy is not the cure for living a fulfilling life; having quality relationships with people is way more satisfying, and having a relationship with God is really the only way to fill our lives (and in turn, we will find our horizontal relationships flourishing when our vertical one is aligned). Second, we've got to realize how many opportunities we have to interact with PEOPLE and not ignore them. In fact, love should be the primary way in which we interact with any person, since we're supposed to love everyone we run across. I think just having those two attitudes will help us to make huge strides in learning how to love.
Who is the most loving person you have ever known? How did they show love to others?
I have an answer, but I won't say who it is. How do they show love? Well: they are someone that opens their home to many strange people and gives them lots of great food, who is always open for a conversation about anything, who loves God and trusts in His plan for her and her family, and who just generally looks out for the best for everyone she comes across. She cares for her children without babying them and being completely realistic about what is possible and what is not.
In what relationship(s) do you need to show more of God's love? What would be a practical first step?
I think I can work on having more God love in all my relationships. A good first step? Stop focusing on what others can do for me (but when they are doing something, being thankful for that) and focus on what I can do for others.
Day 7: Love Someone as Your Neighbor
Yesterday was more about the attitude of love we need to have. Today's is about the actions of love that we need to pour out in our lives.
An important thing to remember is that we are still called to love our "neighbor," which excludes no one. Jesus loved everyone that crossed His path. His expectation for us is no less. "He simply loved people as the opportunity arose during the normal traffic patterns of his life." And He loved people one at a time, and took the time to love them! Everyone from the woman at the well to Zacchaeus to the little children, Jesus took the time to address them all and share the love of God with them.
So. . . the question is: who is that woman at the well? Who is your Zacchaeus? And are you willing to open up to them to show them something they've never seen before?
The other important point this chapter makes is that we also need to spend time alone with God. If we don't have the vertical relationship, we won't have success in the horizontal ones. We can't start truly loving people unless we know love, and God is love, so why wouldn't we spend time with Him?
Think about that for a second: God is love. We try to make love out to be other things, human things: how much money we can spend, how many things we can shower on someone else, what feelings we get from someone else. But what did Jesus do? He gave people time and shared the good news with them. His life was a life of service. He didn't try to buy people with material things; He reached out to where they were and touched them with sincerity. Jesus cares about relationships- otherwise He wouldn't have died for all of us! That is still so mind blowing- that someone would choose to die to cover up our imperfections! All of them! Forever! If that's not love, then I don't know what is.
Point to Ponder: Consistent love can only be expressed one opportunity at a time.
And it only becomes consistent when we realize how many opportunities present themselves and what potential God is putting in front of us.
Verse to Remember: 1 John 4:11- "Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other."
Loving others becomes a natural response when we start to consider everything He has done for us, including putting said others into our lives! I don't believe that the friendships, connections, colleagues, family members, etc. we have are accidental. Sometimes we might not feel like we got put in the right place with the right people, but that is the perfect opportunity to rely on God to show you how to love that person/those people! On the other side, when we find people that are easy to love, we need to be careful that we don't become complacent and take them for granted. We can use the excuse of "but they know that I love them, so it's OK!" to try and cover up when we abuse friendships, but eventually that abuse will catch up, and the strength of that "loving friendship" will be tested. That's not to say that having a friendship tested means that someone has done something wrong on purpose, or that that trial is a bad thing, but we really shouldn't be going out of our way to see how far we can push people before they snap. That's not love, that's manipulation, and it's selfish. But when we focus on the other person, God finds an amazing way in which they provide a wonderful friendship in return, better than we could have ever gotten by just using said person.
Question to Consider: How can I show love to the person right in front of me- today?
Taken literally, I think I am doing that right now (I'm staying with Mr. Reggie again- we left the house today! And now we're listening to Christmas music. Exciting stuff). Figuratively. . . I think I need to be careful of that attitude I was just speaking of above. I'm not using/abusing anyone, but I do need to be more active in showing my appreciation for those people in my life whom God has chosen to give me relationship opportunities. There isn't much worse than being ungrateful in the face of an amazing gift, and God has blessed me with so much down here. Some of my "new" friendships down here feel like second nature (after all, I didn't come to SBC until September of last year! So I haven't really been down here all that long) so I need to make sure I'm not becoming prideful and testing my boundaries. After all, it's not like I really sought out these people- God brought me to them. And that's the story I'm sticking to.
An important thing to remember is that we are still called to love our "neighbor," which excludes no one. Jesus loved everyone that crossed His path. His expectation for us is no less. "He simply loved people as the opportunity arose during the normal traffic patterns of his life." And He loved people one at a time, and took the time to love them! Everyone from the woman at the well to Zacchaeus to the little children, Jesus took the time to address them all and share the love of God with them.
So. . . the question is: who is that woman at the well? Who is your Zacchaeus? And are you willing to open up to them to show them something they've never seen before?
The other important point this chapter makes is that we also need to spend time alone with God. If we don't have the vertical relationship, we won't have success in the horizontal ones. We can't start truly loving people unless we know love, and God is love, so why wouldn't we spend time with Him?
Think about that for a second: God is love. We try to make love out to be other things, human things: how much money we can spend, how many things we can shower on someone else, what feelings we get from someone else. But what did Jesus do? He gave people time and shared the good news with them. His life was a life of service. He didn't try to buy people with material things; He reached out to where they were and touched them with sincerity. Jesus cares about relationships- otherwise He wouldn't have died for all of us! That is still so mind blowing- that someone would choose to die to cover up our imperfections! All of them! Forever! If that's not love, then I don't know what is.
Point to Ponder: Consistent love can only be expressed one opportunity at a time.
And it only becomes consistent when we realize how many opportunities present themselves and what potential God is putting in front of us.
Verse to Remember: 1 John 4:11- "Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other."
Loving others becomes a natural response when we start to consider everything He has done for us, including putting said others into our lives! I don't believe that the friendships, connections, colleagues, family members, etc. we have are accidental. Sometimes we might not feel like we got put in the right place with the right people, but that is the perfect opportunity to rely on God to show you how to love that person/those people! On the other side, when we find people that are easy to love, we need to be careful that we don't become complacent and take them for granted. We can use the excuse of "but they know that I love them, so it's OK!" to try and cover up when we abuse friendships, but eventually that abuse will catch up, and the strength of that "loving friendship" will be tested. That's not to say that having a friendship tested means that someone has done something wrong on purpose, or that that trial is a bad thing, but we really shouldn't be going out of our way to see how far we can push people before they snap. That's not love, that's manipulation, and it's selfish. But when we focus on the other person, God finds an amazing way in which they provide a wonderful friendship in return, better than we could have ever gotten by just using said person.
Question to Consider: How can I show love to the person right in front of me- today?
Taken literally, I think I am doing that right now (I'm staying with Mr. Reggie again- we left the house today! And now we're listening to Christmas music. Exciting stuff). Figuratively. . . I think I need to be careful of that attitude I was just speaking of above. I'm not using/abusing anyone, but I do need to be more active in showing my appreciation for those people in my life whom God has chosen to give me relationship opportunities. There isn't much worse than being ungrateful in the face of an amazing gift, and God has blessed me with so much down here. Some of my "new" friendships down here feel like second nature (after all, I didn't come to SBC until September of last year! So I haven't really been down here all that long) so I need to make sure I'm not becoming prideful and testing my boundaries. After all, it's not like I really sought out these people- God brought me to them. And that's the story I'm sticking to.
7/24/2010
Day 6: Love Everyone as Your Neighbor
I'm tired. And I have no idea when I'm going to catch up with this. So, my plan of attack is to set up the days I haven't written about yet, write about today's chapter, and catch up when I can.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Good Samaritan- everyone knows the story, or at least the point of the story. But how we ignore it! Are we the Priest, too high and mighty and "involved in the Lord's affairs" to take the time to care for someone in need? Or are we the Levite, too rushed on our way to the temple to bother with touching someone who is inevitably going to make us unclean and therefore unable to perform our duties? Too seldom do we take the role of the Samaritan, despised by the world, turning the expectations of others completely upside down, and giving the injured man not only time to bandage him up and take him into town, but also to provide for him shelter and food for the next few days as he recovered! Sometimes we might start to be that Samaritan, pitying someone and helping them out. But far too often we stop short of providing them with the full service that they really need. Whether we are afraid to associate with the person and want to avoid being ridiculed by others or we are too busy to be bothered for "too long," we are not fully loving the injured person that God has placed in our life path.
Here's the key point (I think): the Samaritan had no previous relationship with this man on the side of the road but he helped him anyway. That is what God means when we are to love everyone as our neighbor. After all, if it were a dear friend or family member there, we would bend over backwards to make sure they were taken care of! Why then do we ignore the stranger? This chapter points out two major factors: our differences and our fears. I love this idea: "[h]uman love is a 'some people/some places/some of the time'" kind of love, while God wants everyone, everywhere, and all the time! But how are we supposed to do that? WE CAN'T. Not alone anyway. We're too wrapped up in what others think, too scared to reach out and touch someone that is different than us in the chance we are seen as (or feel) unclean, too anxious about other robbers hiding in the bushes! And what do we have to worry about? God will take care of us! If we would just stop trying to be God and instead let Him be God in us, we would save ourselves a lot of trouble and heartache. It's scary to give up that kind of control at first. And it is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. But man. . . once you can reach that point and see what He will do, there's nothing else that can compare to it!
One final thought: there is no fear in love.
Point to Ponder: No one is outside the bounds of my love.
Oh, but that's so tough. I'll be honest (and you should be too): there are times where it feels kind of good to not like somebody. That annoying person in your office who steals your parking spot, the mother who lets her kids run all over Wal-Mart with sticky ice cream hands, the driver who just cut you off and forced you to slow down so that you could avoid a 9 car pile-up on the highway, the flamboyant gay receptionist who makes subtle passes at you, the _________ (fill in the blank) that just seems to continue to cross your path and get in the way. ALL of those people are meant to be loved. Though we can't love every single person in the world, we are called to love every single person in our world.
Verse to Remember: Luke 10:27- "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Who is our neighbor? The better question is: who ISN'T our neighbor?
Question to Consider: Who is the person in my life I need to take the risk to love?
There are a handful that I can think of, but one in particular sticks out in my mind as a person that I really messed up with and now need to fix that relationship rather than avoiding it. Rather, I need to allow God to fix my end of the relationship, and whatever He wants to happen will happen, and that will be the best for both of us. It's just finding that willingness to let Him work it out. . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Good Samaritan- everyone knows the story, or at least the point of the story. But how we ignore it! Are we the Priest, too high and mighty and "involved in the Lord's affairs" to take the time to care for someone in need? Or are we the Levite, too rushed on our way to the temple to bother with touching someone who is inevitably going to make us unclean and therefore unable to perform our duties? Too seldom do we take the role of the Samaritan, despised by the world, turning the expectations of others completely upside down, and giving the injured man not only time to bandage him up and take him into town, but also to provide for him shelter and food for the next few days as he recovered! Sometimes we might start to be that Samaritan, pitying someone and helping them out. But far too often we stop short of providing them with the full service that they really need. Whether we are afraid to associate with the person and want to avoid being ridiculed by others or we are too busy to be bothered for "too long," we are not fully loving the injured person that God has placed in our life path.
Here's the key point (I think): the Samaritan had no previous relationship with this man on the side of the road but he helped him anyway. That is what God means when we are to love everyone as our neighbor. After all, if it were a dear friend or family member there, we would bend over backwards to make sure they were taken care of! Why then do we ignore the stranger? This chapter points out two major factors: our differences and our fears. I love this idea: "[h]uman love is a 'some people/some places/some of the time'" kind of love, while God wants everyone, everywhere, and all the time! But how are we supposed to do that? WE CAN'T. Not alone anyway. We're too wrapped up in what others think, too scared to reach out and touch someone that is different than us in the chance we are seen as (or feel) unclean, too anxious about other robbers hiding in the bushes! And what do we have to worry about? God will take care of us! If we would just stop trying to be God and instead let Him be God in us, we would save ourselves a lot of trouble and heartache. It's scary to give up that kind of control at first. And it is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. But man. . . once you can reach that point and see what He will do, there's nothing else that can compare to it!
One final thought: there is no fear in love.
Point to Ponder: No one is outside the bounds of my love.
Oh, but that's so tough. I'll be honest (and you should be too): there are times where it feels kind of good to not like somebody. That annoying person in your office who steals your parking spot, the mother who lets her kids run all over Wal-Mart with sticky ice cream hands, the driver who just cut you off and forced you to slow down so that you could avoid a 9 car pile-up on the highway, the flamboyant gay receptionist who makes subtle passes at you, the _________ (fill in the blank) that just seems to continue to cross your path and get in the way. ALL of those people are meant to be loved. Though we can't love every single person in the world, we are called to love every single person in our world.
Verse to Remember: Luke 10:27- "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Who is our neighbor? The better question is: who ISN'T our neighbor?
Question to Consider: Who is the person in my life I need to take the risk to love?
There are a handful that I can think of, but one in particular sticks out in my mind as a person that I really messed up with and now need to fix that relationship rather than avoiding it. Rather, I need to allow God to fix my end of the relationship, and whatever He wants to happen will happen, and that will be the best for both of us. It's just finding that willingness to let Him work it out. . .
Day 5: Love God with All Your Mind and Strength
With my parents visiting this weekend, I just didn't have time to write about yesterday's chapter. I did read it, though, so without further ado, here we go (since I need to write two of these tonight).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was listening to music when I opened up the webpage, but the opening line of this chapter told me to totally clear my mind, so I have now turned the music off. It asks an important question: how do we love God with all of our mind? The answer is a deceivingly simple sentence: "[t]o love God with all your mind is to know that God's thoughts are thoughts of love toward you and to decide that your thoughts will be thoughts of love toward God." A further breakdown takes Phillipians 4:8 and shows how the list of things in this verse can help develop a continual habit of thinking with love towards God (MAN that was an awful sentence. I'm tired):
-That which is true means that which we can depend on in life. God's promises, anyone?
-That which is noble reminds us of God's presence in EVERYTHING we do, making the mundane have the "light of eternity."
-That which is right is aligned with God's will.
-That which is pure refers to that which is unclean. Unfortunately as humans we can not forget the mistakes we have made, but what we can do instead is look to Jesus' perfect life and sacrifice for us.
-That which is lovely "means not so much 'pretty' as 'enjoyable.'" Too often we get caught up in living "good" Christian lives that we are missing out on the fun God wants us to have!
-That which is admirable is something we should point out in our relationships with others (rather than their faults, which is way easier to do).
-That which is excellent motivates us, because our God is excellent! If we are not so wrapped up in our own stuff, we can't help but see His greatness!
-That which is praiseworthy is really the culmination of all this: we should celebrate what God is doing in our lives!
This chapter also talks about how we can love with all our strength. The finale of the other three, our strength is when we take all the inner parts and let them play out in the real world. Three things we should do:
-Have complete confidence that God can do ANYTHING
-Be convinced that we can do nothing of eternal significance without Jesus' presence in our lives
-Turn to God to change our weaknesses into strength
I can look back a year in life and see that all three of these things are true. And for that I am eternally grateful that God brought me down here to FL and hit me over the head.
One last thing (before I crash- I'm EXHAUSTED)- feeling inadequate in a certain area is an indication of a place that we need to learn to rely on God's strength. It doesn't mean that we will start to feel more adequate; instead, we rely on someone Who is adequate in that place. I love that idea.
Point to Ponder: To love God with your mind, you must put God's words into your mind.
God is love. I could write out the mathematical proof but it's not worth it, so use your imagination.
Verse to Remember: Philippians 4:8- "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent of praiseworthy- think about such things."
I can't begin to count the number of times I have brought this verse to mind in many a situation. Actually it's something that helps me to combat my sleep issues when they arise.
Questions to Consider: Where have my thoughts been focused lately? When was the last time I asked God to give me the strength to move forward in his power, even though I was feeling weak?
Lately, it's been on trying not to be sloppy with everything that's been going on in life. I'm not sure about that last question either. . . but I need to SLEEP.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was listening to music when I opened up the webpage, but the opening line of this chapter told me to totally clear my mind, so I have now turned the music off. It asks an important question: how do we love God with all of our mind? The answer is a deceivingly simple sentence: "[t]o love God with all your mind is to know that God's thoughts are thoughts of love toward you and to decide that your thoughts will be thoughts of love toward God." A further breakdown takes Phillipians 4:8 and shows how the list of things in this verse can help develop a continual habit of thinking with love towards God (MAN that was an awful sentence. I'm tired):
-That which is true means that which we can depend on in life. God's promises, anyone?
-That which is noble reminds us of God's presence in EVERYTHING we do, making the mundane have the "light of eternity."
-That which is right is aligned with God's will.
-That which is pure refers to that which is unclean. Unfortunately as humans we can not forget the mistakes we have made, but what we can do instead is look to Jesus' perfect life and sacrifice for us.
-That which is lovely "means not so much 'pretty' as 'enjoyable.'" Too often we get caught up in living "good" Christian lives that we are missing out on the fun God wants us to have!
-That which is admirable is something we should point out in our relationships with others (rather than their faults, which is way easier to do).
-That which is excellent motivates us, because our God is excellent! If we are not so wrapped up in our own stuff, we can't help but see His greatness!
-That which is praiseworthy is really the culmination of all this: we should celebrate what God is doing in our lives!
This chapter also talks about how we can love with all our strength. The finale of the other three, our strength is when we take all the inner parts and let them play out in the real world. Three things we should do:
-Have complete confidence that God can do ANYTHING
-Be convinced that we can do nothing of eternal significance without Jesus' presence in our lives
-Turn to God to change our weaknesses into strength
I can look back a year in life and see that all three of these things are true. And for that I am eternally grateful that God brought me down here to FL and hit me over the head.
One last thing (before I crash- I'm EXHAUSTED)- feeling inadequate in a certain area is an indication of a place that we need to learn to rely on God's strength. It doesn't mean that we will start to feel more adequate; instead, we rely on someone Who is adequate in that place. I love that idea.
Point to Ponder: To love God with your mind, you must put God's words into your mind.
God is love. I could write out the mathematical proof but it's not worth it, so use your imagination.
Verse to Remember: Philippians 4:8- "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent of praiseworthy- think about such things."
I can't begin to count the number of times I have brought this verse to mind in many a situation. Actually it's something that helps me to combat my sleep issues when they arise.
Questions to Consider: Where have my thoughts been focused lately? When was the last time I asked God to give me the strength to move forward in his power, even though I was feeling weak?
Lately, it's been on trying not to be sloppy with everything that's been going on in life. I'm not sure about that last question either. . . but I need to SLEEP.
7/22/2010
Day 4: Love God with All Your Soul
I "cleaned" my apartment yesterday.
By "cleaned", I mean I moved stuff around so it doesn't look like piles of unorganized junk, which is much closer to the truth.
Why would I do such a thing, you ask?
My parents are coming down, so I have to give the appearance that my apartment isn't messy. There is a method to my madness. I'll organize it eventually. . . I just have to be in the right mood. For now, what they don't notice won't hurt me.
And now, something much more interesting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have a confession: I get somewhat geeked about etymology. I'm sure I've mentioned Pastor Melissa Scott on here before, but if you don't know, she takes passages of Scripture and looks at the original languages to find a deeper, truer meaning of the intent of the writer (or perhaps I should say "Writer"). So when this chapter opened with what "soul" was translated from, my GeekMetre (which is apparently British) started flashing. The Old Testament uses nephesh, which means "to breathe," harkening back to the idea that God breathed life/soul into Adam. In the NT, the Greek word psychē which means "the self as a functional entity." Basically, the idea is that soul is the driving force of our lives, the part of us that has will, power, and passion.
There are three ways we can seek to love God with all of our soul. First, we should seek Him passionately. I know about passion. Just get me talking about Beethoven's Op. 27 No. 1. Or Hermann Schroeder's Op. 9 No. 4. In fact, let me share (unfortunately, I can't embed it into the entry, and you'll have to fast forward to about 5:45- the whole set of 6 is nice, so if you like organ music then listen away, but I learned 1, 4, and 6 under Dr. Schrock, and fell in love especially with 1 and 4):
At about 6:42/6:43, there is a transition from a fuller registration to a lighter one (the one used in the opening part of this piece), and the highest note played in this change of registration is actually (at least) four different things all in one. It's the end of the phrase before and the beginning of the restatement of the original phrase, and it's also the inversion of. . . something. . . and it's something else. . . I'd have to look at the score again to figure out the exact analysis, but Dr. Schrock and I spent about 10 minutes discovering this fact. All of those preludes are SO well crafted! It's a weird mix of being tonal without really being. . . tonal. It's not just noise, but the chords and melodic lines and progressions he uses are not what you expect. SO cool.
. . . anyway, I say all of that to say this: sometimes I make myself angry and/or sad when I see myself get all lit up about music, and then think about times where I ought to be lit up about God and instead I shy away. I know what it's like to be passionate, and I have been passionate about God. . . but I definitely need to work on consistency and not get caught up in the things the world has to offer.
Second, we have to love Him personally. I love how he words it so much, I'm just going to quote him:
OK, that might be a little harsh, but really. . . I don't get it sometimes. I try to engage people as I can, and I don't know how successful I am, but it certainly makes me think about what must be going on in other people's heads. Besides, HOW CAN YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT ANY MUSIC THAT GLORIFIES THE LORD IN ITS LYRICS??
Sorry, I'm gonna stop before I get onto the soapbox.
Finally, we should decide to do what He wants us to do. A book by Philip Doddridge is mentioned that talks about the soul- I'll put a link at the end. The idea is that we should be putting God's will above our own(that being the highest act of love that we can show with our soul). It's really easy to seek God's will in parts of our lives, but try and take control of other parts. But that's not what we're asked to do. In fact, we are commanded to love with with ALL of our soul. That means giving Him ALL of our decisions. It's not easy, but who ever said that life was going to be easy?
Point to Ponder: When you love the Lord, you love him with a unique voice- a voice that is different in soul from any other voice God hears in all of creation.
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE WE ADDRESSED THIS IN CHURCH, AND STILL PEOPLE COMPLAIN ABOUT "HOW WORSHIP WENT" OR "HOW [THAT PERSON] WAS BEING STRANGE." No. NO NO NO. Worship is about what YOU are bringing, not what the church is doing. If the person next to you is raising his/her hands and jumping up and down, then LET THEM. If they are sitting down and singing quietly, then LET THEM. And more importantly, DO WHAT YOU FEEL. Allow yourself to actually RESPOND, rather than go through the motions. I find myself bouncing on the balls of my foot as I sing. I don't know why, but I do.
Also, please go read this. It's an excerpt from Tolkien's Ainulindale (yes, Lord of the Rings writer). It's the creation of the world, and I think it's fantastic, but I won't say much more about it because I really do want you to read it. It's not a very long excerpt. And it's kind of related.
Verse to Remember: Matt. 5:6- "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
Amen. I've found it in my own life. I'm still discovering it. And I've found the opposite as well- seeking after sin leaves you empty.
Question to Consider: Where do I need to pray, "Lord, your will be done," in order to love God with all my soul?
Tough question- this is definitely something I'm going to explore later this evening.
A final note: this is an online version of that book (written in the 19th century and therefore public domain) if you're interested. It reads like Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter), so take that for what it's worth.
By "cleaned", I mean I moved stuff around so it doesn't look like piles of unorganized junk, which is much closer to the truth.
Why would I do such a thing, you ask?
My parents are coming down, so I have to give the appearance that my apartment isn't messy. There is a method to my madness. I'll organize it eventually. . . I just have to be in the right mood. For now, what they don't notice won't hurt me.
And now, something much more interesting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have a confession: I get somewhat geeked about etymology. I'm sure I've mentioned Pastor Melissa Scott on here before, but if you don't know, she takes passages of Scripture and looks at the original languages to find a deeper, truer meaning of the intent of the writer (or perhaps I should say "Writer"). So when this chapter opened with what "soul" was translated from, my GeekMetre (which is apparently British) started flashing. The Old Testament uses nephesh, which means "to breathe," harkening back to the idea that God breathed life/soul into Adam. In the NT, the Greek word psychē which means "the self as a functional entity." Basically, the idea is that soul is the driving force of our lives, the part of us that has will, power, and passion.
There are three ways we can seek to love God with all of our soul. First, we should seek Him passionately. I know about passion. Just get me talking about Beethoven's Op. 27 No. 1. Or Hermann Schroeder's Op. 9 No. 4. In fact, let me share (unfortunately, I can't embed it into the entry, and you'll have to fast forward to about 5:45- the whole set of 6 is nice, so if you like organ music then listen away, but I learned 1, 4, and 6 under Dr. Schrock, and fell in love especially with 1 and 4):
At about 6:42/6:43, there is a transition from a fuller registration to a lighter one (the one used in the opening part of this piece), and the highest note played in this change of registration is actually (at least) four different things all in one. It's the end of the phrase before and the beginning of the restatement of the original phrase, and it's also the inversion of. . . something. . . and it's something else. . . I'd have to look at the score again to figure out the exact analysis, but Dr. Schrock and I spent about 10 minutes discovering this fact. All of those preludes are SO well crafted! It's a weird mix of being tonal without really being. . . tonal. It's not just noise, but the chords and melodic lines and progressions he uses are not what you expect. SO cool.
. . . anyway, I say all of that to say this: sometimes I make myself angry and/or sad when I see myself get all lit up about music, and then think about times where I ought to be lit up about God and instead I shy away. I know what it's like to be passionate, and I have been passionate about God. . . but I definitely need to work on consistency and not get caught up in the things the world has to offer.
Second, we have to love Him personally. I love how he words it so much, I'm just going to quote him:
You are like nothing else and no one else. You're the only one in all of creation who can love the Lord like you can. You're the only you in all of creation. When you love the Lord, you love him with a unique voice- a voice different in tone, different in soul, from any other voice God hears in all of creation. Love God uniquely with the personality he's fashioned into your life.We should never be ashamed or afraid of how we feel we should worship God. Being in the church choir, I've learned a lot about how people worship- a lot of people look like this:
OK, that might be a little harsh, but really. . . I don't get it sometimes. I try to engage people as I can, and I don't know how successful I am, but it certainly makes me think about what must be going on in other people's heads. Besides, HOW CAN YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT ANY MUSIC THAT GLORIFIES THE LORD IN ITS LYRICS??
Sorry, I'm gonna stop before I get onto the soapbox.
Finally, we should decide to do what He wants us to do. A book by Philip Doddridge is mentioned that talks about the soul- I'll put a link at the end. The idea is that we should be putting God's will above our own(that being the highest act of love that we can show with our soul). It's really easy to seek God's will in parts of our lives, but try and take control of other parts. But that's not what we're asked to do. In fact, we are commanded to love with with ALL of our soul. That means giving Him ALL of our decisions. It's not easy, but who ever said that life was going to be easy?
Point to Ponder: When you love the Lord, you love him with a unique voice- a voice that is different in soul from any other voice God hears in all of creation.
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE WE ADDRESSED THIS IN CHURCH, AND STILL PEOPLE COMPLAIN ABOUT "HOW WORSHIP WENT" OR "HOW [THAT PERSON] WAS BEING STRANGE." No. NO NO NO. Worship is about what YOU are bringing, not what the church is doing. If the person next to you is raising his/her hands and jumping up and down, then LET THEM. If they are sitting down and singing quietly, then LET THEM. And more importantly, DO WHAT YOU FEEL. Allow yourself to actually RESPOND, rather than go through the motions. I find myself bouncing on the balls of my foot as I sing. I don't know why, but I do.
Also, please go read this. It's an excerpt from Tolkien's Ainulindale (yes, Lord of the Rings writer). It's the creation of the world, and I think it's fantastic, but I won't say much more about it because I really do want you to read it. It's not a very long excerpt. And it's kind of related.
Verse to Remember: Matt. 5:6- "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
Amen. I've found it in my own life. I'm still discovering it. And I've found the opposite as well- seeking after sin leaves you empty.
Question to Consider: Where do I need to pray, "Lord, your will be done," in order to love God with all my soul?
Tough question- this is definitely something I'm going to explore later this evening.
A final note: this is an online version of that book (written in the 19th century and therefore public domain) if you're interested. It reads like Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter), so take that for what it's worth.
7/21/2010
Day 3: Love God with All Your Heart
It's July 21st. I've been 22 for almost a month.
So much stuff has happened. So much GREAT stuff. So let me change my opening statement:
It's July 21st. I've ONLY been 22 for about 22 days.
Craziness. Awesomeness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I thought this was a pretty good explanation of heart, soul, mind, and strength, so I'm going to share and elaborate, as is my wont.
Your heart is where you feel. Pretty simple, right? And we all like to "trust our feelings." We like to do things that will makes us "feel good inside." That's great and all, BUT we need to also remember that "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9) and "'Are you still so dull?' Jesus asked them. 'Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man "unclean." For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man "unclean."'" (Matt. 15:16-20a). Something I still work on is trying to not always trust my immediate feelings- with all the different factors that go into a decision, I know that my primary gauge needs to be, "Is this what God wants? Is what is going on pleasing Him or not?" Knowing is half the battle. . . but unfortunately it's the easy half.
Your soul is where you decide. Another way to say this is that our soul is our free-will. Animals may or may not feel emotions like we do, but either way, it is our souls that makes us more than "just another animal." If we say that our soul belongs to God, what we are really saying is that our decisions belong to Him. I don't know why, but that seems like a pretty powerful statement (of course, it doesn't matter if it's not true).
Your mind is where you think. I ascribe to the theory that the mind exists in the spiritual realm (in short, this is why the Holy Spirit and Satan are able to have any power of influence in our lives). Because of that, we need to be careful that we don't give every thought that flashes across our minds an immediate free pass to action. In the same way that we should test our emotions, we also need to test the notions and ideas we have in order to be sure that we are not falling into the trap of fooling ourselves or being deceived.
Your strength is where you physically interact with the world around you. This is pretty simple. Everything we do should be done for His glory. This includes EVERYTHING, from relationships to daily tasks to life-altering moves, from what we say to who we interact with on a regular basis. As Pastor Dan explored on Sunday, do our actions line up with our words?
The process for any action should be then: this is how I feel about it-this is what I'm going to do-this is how I'm going to do it-do it. If we are loving God completely through each of these steps, then we are going along the right track. However, with any multi-step process, it's really easy to get off and mess up the end product.
So. . . how do we prepare to give all our heart?
This chapter makes the point about the brutal honesty in emotion found in the Psalms. What's going on in your life right now? I guarantee there's a Psalm that will sum it up for you, and pretty eloquently. I know I've felt like this recently. There are seven things we can do to be most emotional and honest in our prayer life. We can talk about: our feelings, our weaknesses, His strengths, our fears, our desires, an open admission of our sins, and finally, that which we know to be true (His goodness). We can't serve God if we are hiding our feelings, and we certainly can't get anything accomplished if we are too wrapped up in our own emotional craziness to be focused on everything He has done for us.
Point to Ponder: The path to putting God first starts with the word all.
But it's so hard to let go of EVERYTHING. It feels so good to be in CONTROL. There's NO WAY that things will go wrong as long as I am overseeing it (trust me, I am saying this in complete self-mockery). Oswald Chambers says it best: we need to have "reckless abandon" to Christ. What can we really accomplish with our own power? Not nearly as much as we can with His power, and those things that are His are lasting.
Verse to Remember: Matthew 6:33- "Seek first [God's] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
It's so tempting to think that we can draw out of life everything we think we need, and I feel like every time I try to do that, it does not turn out well for me. On the other side, when I'm lining up with God's way, amazing things happen. It seems like having those two choices, and knowing the results of both, there should never be a reason for me to try doing things on my own. And yet I do. Hurray humanness.
Question to Consider: Do I tell God what I feel, or do I tell him what I think he wants to hear?
I think I am pretty good about being honest with God. That is one advantage to living alone- I am able to do all sorts of crazy things, like talk aloud. And He already knows what is in my heart anyway, so what's the point of trying to hide it?
So much stuff has happened. So much GREAT stuff. So let me change my opening statement:
It's July 21st. I've ONLY been 22 for about 22 days.
Craziness. Awesomeness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I thought this was a pretty good explanation of heart, soul, mind, and strength, so I'm going to share and elaborate, as is my wont.
Your heart is where you feel. Pretty simple, right? And we all like to "trust our feelings." We like to do things that will makes us "feel good inside." That's great and all, BUT we need to also remember that "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9) and "'Are you still so dull?' Jesus asked them. 'Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man "unclean." For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man "unclean."'" (Matt. 15:16-20a). Something I still work on is trying to not always trust my immediate feelings- with all the different factors that go into a decision, I know that my primary gauge needs to be, "Is this what God wants? Is what is going on pleasing Him or not?" Knowing is half the battle. . . but unfortunately it's the easy half.
Your soul is where you decide. Another way to say this is that our soul is our free-will. Animals may or may not feel emotions like we do, but either way, it is our souls that makes us more than "just another animal." If we say that our soul belongs to God, what we are really saying is that our decisions belong to Him. I don't know why, but that seems like a pretty powerful statement (of course, it doesn't matter if it's not true).
Your mind is where you think. I ascribe to the theory that the mind exists in the spiritual realm (in short, this is why the Holy Spirit and Satan are able to have any power of influence in our lives). Because of that, we need to be careful that we don't give every thought that flashes across our minds an immediate free pass to action. In the same way that we should test our emotions, we also need to test the notions and ideas we have in order to be sure that we are not falling into the trap of fooling ourselves or being deceived.
Your strength is where you physically interact with the world around you. This is pretty simple. Everything we do should be done for His glory. This includes EVERYTHING, from relationships to daily tasks to life-altering moves, from what we say to who we interact with on a regular basis. As Pastor Dan explored on Sunday, do our actions line up with our words?
The process for any action should be then: this is how I feel about it-this is what I'm going to do-this is how I'm going to do it-do it. If we are loving God completely through each of these steps, then we are going along the right track. However, with any multi-step process, it's really easy to get off and mess up the end product.
So. . . how do we prepare to give all our heart?
This chapter makes the point about the brutal honesty in emotion found in the Psalms. What's going on in your life right now? I guarantee there's a Psalm that will sum it up for you, and pretty eloquently. I know I've felt like this recently. There are seven things we can do to be most emotional and honest in our prayer life. We can talk about: our feelings, our weaknesses, His strengths, our fears, our desires, an open admission of our sins, and finally, that which we know to be true (His goodness). We can't serve God if we are hiding our feelings, and we certainly can't get anything accomplished if we are too wrapped up in our own emotional craziness to be focused on everything He has done for us.
Point to Ponder: The path to putting God first starts with the word all.
But it's so hard to let go of EVERYTHING. It feels so good to be in CONTROL. There's NO WAY that things will go wrong as long as I am overseeing it (trust me, I am saying this in complete self-mockery). Oswald Chambers says it best: we need to have "reckless abandon" to Christ. What can we really accomplish with our own power? Not nearly as much as we can with His power, and those things that are His are lasting.
Verse to Remember: Matthew 6:33- "Seek first [God's] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
It's so tempting to think that we can draw out of life everything we think we need, and I feel like every time I try to do that, it does not turn out well for me. On the other side, when I'm lining up with God's way, amazing things happen. It seems like having those two choices, and knowing the results of both, there should never be a reason for me to try doing things on my own. And yet I do. Hurray humanness.
Question to Consider: Do I tell God what I feel, or do I tell him what I think he wants to hear?
I think I am pretty good about being honest with God. That is one advantage to living alone- I am able to do all sorts of crazy things, like talk aloud. And He already knows what is in my heart anyway, so what's the point of trying to hide it?
7/20/2010
Day 2: The Attraction of Lesser Things
I have the feeling this is going to be a challenging book, and that is a very good thing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The chapter opens with the sad realization that, while we know we ought to put relationships first, and even when we have the best intentions, there are so many distractions that easily get in the way. Can you say "Facebook"? Granted, there are times where I'm chatting with people back in the mitten via fb chat, but even then it's so easy to be looking at pictures or commenting on whatever, and 10 minutes later you realized you never responded to the person's question because you didn't even see it pop up.
Of course, we could get into a debate about how online interaction may or may not be tearing down the way in which we build relationships with others, but that's not my task for today.
Really though, how easy is it to be in mid-conversation with something and someone's phone rings? Or when you're rushing to get to the next place, and someone's trying to draw you into an important talk? Or what about chatting with someone over dinner, and the music in the background strikes you? I am super guilty of that last one.
The fact of the matter is that we need to realize that a)we are very easily distracted by all the things that go on around us, and b)we have to force ourselves to not be distracted if we want to improve the quality of our personal interactions. And with the iPhone generation exploding and continuing to bury themselves in technology, live person-to-person interaction is becoming more and more of a rarity and a precious commodity. Don't take that the wrong way- I am not saying that if you have an iPhone, you are a terrible person and you must not have any good relationships. I am saying, however, that I will probably not jump onto the iPhone train anytime soon (until the inevitable technological take over of Apple, where it will be my only option if I want to be able to communicate across long distances). So, going back to the greatest commandments, we have to choose to love with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It's a consistent action, not a one-time choice, and that's what makes this tough.
There are five questions "to jump-start your thoughts in an honest direction," so I thought I would share:
-What's the first thing you think about in the morning?
-What does your schedule tell you about your priorities?
-As you look at your checkbook, what gets paid, no matter what?
-What do you find yourself talking about most?
-What's the last thing you think about when your head hits the pillow at night?
I won't bother divulging my own answers here, but they are certainly probing questions.
There are two "lesser values" that this chapter submits as being less important than relationships. First is money. "No one can serve both God and money". . . and it's true! How many times do we think, "if I can just make $___ more, I can go buy this, and then I'll be happy!" or "I can skim a little money from this so that I can use it here!" and what we're skimming from is something we really ought not be (like tithing, or children's college funds, or emergency money). And when we do that. . . there's always a hole inside that never gets filled. "Lesser values don't deliver on their promises." Life is more than things. . . and the purpose of our lives goes far beyond what we accomplish before we die. So why do we worry about what we will eat and wear? God will provide, assuming we are aligned with His will and faithfully putting our trust in Him.
The second "lesser value" is tasks. Ugh. I have a problem with this. I am a task master and somewhat obsessed with efficiency. This means I get to do a lot. . . but it also means that it is easy for me to be focused on the doing rather than the "whom" that I am doing for. In fact, I get caught up in that more often than I would like to admit. I love being involved because of the people I get to interact with. . . but the pursuit of perfection in whatever I'm doing sometimes gets to be too much for me, and I am prone to spaz out (shocking, I know). I want whatever experience I'm working on to be the best for everyone, but sometimes I forget that I'm also working with other people, and I should also be making the work environment a pleasant place; just because they are part of the process doesn't mean they aren't part of that "everyone" that gets to experience the best. And ultimately, it doesn't matter how good you are at something if you are aggravating the people you are working with. It also doesn't matter what you are doing if the point is for your own glorification. While I generally don't have a problem with this, it's still something that I keep a careful eye out as I do the different things I do. I've always said that I only do things that I love to do, and I find that to be a pretty consistent standard as I sign myself up for all different adventures. But, do I always act like I am loving what I am doing? That's something I need to work on making more consistently.
Point to Ponder: God does not demand of me that I accomplish great things. He does demand of me that I strive for excellence in my relationships.
That is such a fantastic set of statements. Again, if we keep in mind that "relationships" also includes our relationship with God, then this becomes a pretty good credo. Whenever we set out to do great things through our power, it generally blows up in our face at some point. However, when we set out to do great things through God, we cannot fail. Also, if we really expect to get anywhere in life, we must have good relationships with people, or we will either be stopped by our lack of connection or find that we're all alone at the top of a summit that we didn't really want to be scaling in the first place.
Verse to Remember: Matthew 6:25- "So I tell you, don't worry about everyday life- whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn't life consist of more than food and clothing?"
Such great wisdom in that whole illustration. . . so why do we continue to ignore it?
Question to Consider: What do the ways in which I spend my time and money say about the top priorities in my life?
Well, I'm still in the beginning stages of "my life," but I find that my time and money point to a few things: church, friends, and music. I'm still working out kinks and developing balance in life, but things are going pretty well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The chapter opens with the sad realization that, while we know we ought to put relationships first, and even when we have the best intentions, there are so many distractions that easily get in the way. Can you say "Facebook"? Granted, there are times where I'm chatting with people back in the mitten via fb chat, but even then it's so easy to be looking at pictures or commenting on whatever, and 10 minutes later you realized you never responded to the person's question because you didn't even see it pop up.
Of course, we could get into a debate about how online interaction may or may not be tearing down the way in which we build relationships with others, but that's not my task for today.
Really though, how easy is it to be in mid-conversation with something and someone's phone rings? Or when you're rushing to get to the next place, and someone's trying to draw you into an important talk? Or what about chatting with someone over dinner, and the music in the background strikes you? I am super guilty of that last one.
The fact of the matter is that we need to realize that a)we are very easily distracted by all the things that go on around us, and b)we have to force ourselves to not be distracted if we want to improve the quality of our personal interactions. And with the iPhone generation exploding and continuing to bury themselves in technology, live person-to-person interaction is becoming more and more of a rarity and a precious commodity. Don't take that the wrong way- I am not saying that if you have an iPhone, you are a terrible person and you must not have any good relationships. I am saying, however, that I will probably not jump onto the iPhone train anytime soon (until the inevitable technological take over of Apple, where it will be my only option if I want to be able to communicate across long distances). So, going back to the greatest commandments, we have to choose to love with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It's a consistent action, not a one-time choice, and that's what makes this tough.
There are five questions "to jump-start your thoughts in an honest direction," so I thought I would share:
-What's the first thing you think about in the morning?
-What does your schedule tell you about your priorities?
-As you look at your checkbook, what gets paid, no matter what?
-What do you find yourself talking about most?
-What's the last thing you think about when your head hits the pillow at night?
I won't bother divulging my own answers here, but they are certainly probing questions.
There are two "lesser values" that this chapter submits as being less important than relationships. First is money. "No one can serve both God and money". . . and it's true! How many times do we think, "if I can just make $___ more, I can go buy this, and then I'll be happy!" or "I can skim a little money from this so that I can use it here!" and what we're skimming from is something we really ought not be (like tithing, or children's college funds, or emergency money). And when we do that. . . there's always a hole inside that never gets filled. "Lesser values don't deliver on their promises." Life is more than things. . . and the purpose of our lives goes far beyond what we accomplish before we die. So why do we worry about what we will eat and wear? God will provide, assuming we are aligned with His will and faithfully putting our trust in Him.
The second "lesser value" is tasks. Ugh. I have a problem with this. I am a task master and somewhat obsessed with efficiency. This means I get to do a lot. . . but it also means that it is easy for me to be focused on the doing rather than the "whom" that I am doing for. In fact, I get caught up in that more often than I would like to admit. I love being involved because of the people I get to interact with. . . but the pursuit of perfection in whatever I'm doing sometimes gets to be too much for me, and I am prone to spaz out (shocking, I know). I want whatever experience I'm working on to be the best for everyone, but sometimes I forget that I'm also working with other people, and I should also be making the work environment a pleasant place; just because they are part of the process doesn't mean they aren't part of that "everyone" that gets to experience the best. And ultimately, it doesn't matter how good you are at something if you are aggravating the people you are working with. It also doesn't matter what you are doing if the point is for your own glorification. While I generally don't have a problem with this, it's still something that I keep a careful eye out as I do the different things I do. I've always said that I only do things that I love to do, and I find that to be a pretty consistent standard as I sign myself up for all different adventures. But, do I always act like I am loving what I am doing? That's something I need to work on making more consistently.
Point to Ponder: God does not demand of me that I accomplish great things. He does demand of me that I strive for excellence in my relationships.
That is such a fantastic set of statements. Again, if we keep in mind that "relationships" also includes our relationship with God, then this becomes a pretty good credo. Whenever we set out to do great things through our power, it generally blows up in our face at some point. However, when we set out to do great things through God, we cannot fail. Also, if we really expect to get anywhere in life, we must have good relationships with people, or we will either be stopped by our lack of connection or find that we're all alone at the top of a summit that we didn't really want to be scaling in the first place.
Verse to Remember: Matthew 6:25- "So I tell you, don't worry about everyday life- whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn't life consist of more than food and clothing?"
Such great wisdom in that whole illustration. . . so why do we continue to ignore it?
Question to Consider: What do the ways in which I spend my time and money say about the top priorities in my life?
Well, I'm still in the beginning stages of "my life," but I find that my time and money point to a few things: church, friends, and music. I'm still working out kinks and developing balance in life, but things are going pretty well.
7/19/2010
Day 1: Nothing Is More Important Than Relationships
The wonder and pain of relationships. . . the two sides of this double edged sword are mentioned in the first part of this chapter. And it's so true. We can discover some amazing things about life through the relationships we find ourselves falling into. We can also discover some of the darker sides of life through the relationships we find ourselves falling out of.
One of the illustrations in this chapter is the idea of being stranded at sea in a boat with flares, fresh water, food, and another person, and you have to get rid of one thing or the raft will sink before you get to land. The logical thing to get rid of is the water, of course (because you can fashion a bowl out of the empty cans from the food and use a flare to start a fire so you can boil water), but when you think about it, no person weighs as little as food rations, a jug of water, or a box of flares. So, someone has to go. Will it be you, or the other person? And who is the "other person?" Now that really adds an interesting aspect. How many of us would say, "Well, if it were this person, I would throw myself in to save them, but if it were this person then I would throw them overboard"?
I'm guilty of that attitude. I'm sure you are as well, dear reader. If you can't be honest with yourself, you might as well turn back now.
So then here's the real tough question: what if it were a stranger? What would be your policy for deciding who stays and who goes? Would you interview the person (assuming you had some time before the raft completely fell apart) and try to figure out who had more to live for? How would age play into who gets to stay and who gets to go? Or what about career? Would you throw yourself out of the boat for a single mother of three? But what if she revealed to you that she was also a heroin addict, and her children were busy getting money to pay for her addiction? Would you still let her live?
Just some things to ponder.
Jesus thought people were important, no matter what was going on in their lives. I'm looking forward to exploring the ideas in this book.
Point to Ponder: Place the highest value on relationships.
Remember that this means first our relationship with God and second our relationships with others. It is way easy to get so caught up with "life" that you forget about people, and I'm sure that's something that this book is going to discuss in many different ways. And this isn't just a suggestion; it's a commandment! See-
Verse to Remember: Mark 12:29-31 "'The most important [commandment],' answered Jesus, 'Is this: . . . "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." The second is this: "Love your neighbor as yourself."'"
Man. . . I feel like I've heard this before. . . hah. Really though, important things bear repeating, and there's such simple wisdom to be found. The God of love who created us wants us to love Him and those He created with everything we have. Why do we over-complicate it?
Question to Consider: Have I asked Jesus if what I'm doing is what's most important?
I don't know that I've really thought much about this particular question. I am still developing awareness of God in my everyday life. And I do know that I am so thankful for the group of people that He had prepared for me down here, waiting to take me in (though they didn't know it, and neither did I). It still amazes me how perfect His plans are: I'm nearly to the year mark, and so many changes have taken place in my life. And while I'm not going to go on and on about people right now (since I have the next 39 days to have opportunities to speak about specifics, I'm sure), I do feel so blessed for the many friendships that have been developing since my move to Florida.
One of the illustrations in this chapter is the idea of being stranded at sea in a boat with flares, fresh water, food, and another person, and you have to get rid of one thing or the raft will sink before you get to land. The logical thing to get rid of is the water, of course (because you can fashion a bowl out of the empty cans from the food and use a flare to start a fire so you can boil water), but when you think about it, no person weighs as little as food rations, a jug of water, or a box of flares. So, someone has to go. Will it be you, or the other person? And who is the "other person?" Now that really adds an interesting aspect. How many of us would say, "Well, if it were this person, I would throw myself in to save them, but if it were this person then I would throw them overboard"?
I'm guilty of that attitude. I'm sure you are as well, dear reader. If you can't be honest with yourself, you might as well turn back now.
So then here's the real tough question: what if it were a stranger? What would be your policy for deciding who stays and who goes? Would you interview the person (assuming you had some time before the raft completely fell apart) and try to figure out who had more to live for? How would age play into who gets to stay and who gets to go? Or what about career? Would you throw yourself out of the boat for a single mother of three? But what if she revealed to you that she was also a heroin addict, and her children were busy getting money to pay for her addiction? Would you still let her live?
Just some things to ponder.
Jesus thought people were important, no matter what was going on in their lives. I'm looking forward to exploring the ideas in this book.
Point to Ponder: Place the highest value on relationships.
Remember that this means first our relationship with God and second our relationships with others. It is way easy to get so caught up with "life" that you forget about people, and I'm sure that's something that this book is going to discuss in many different ways. And this isn't just a suggestion; it's a commandment! See-
Verse to Remember: Mark 12:29-31 "'The most important [commandment],' answered Jesus, 'Is this: . . . "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." The second is this: "Love your neighbor as yourself."'"
Man. . . I feel like I've heard this before. . . hah. Really though, important things bear repeating, and there's such simple wisdom to be found. The God of love who created us wants us to love Him and those He created with everything we have. Why do we over-complicate it?
Question to Consider: Have I asked Jesus if what I'm doing is what's most important?
I don't know that I've really thought much about this particular question. I am still developing awareness of God in my everyday life. And I do know that I am so thankful for the group of people that He had prepared for me down here, waiting to take me in (though they didn't know it, and neither did I). It still amazes me how perfect His plans are: I'm nearly to the year mark, and so many changes have taken place in my life. And while I'm not going to go on and on about people right now (since I have the next 39 days to have opportunities to speak about specifics, I'm sure), I do feel so blessed for the many friendships that have been developing since my move to Florida.
Another 40-Day Journey: The Relationship Principles of Jesus
I got this book from a friend a couple weeks ago, and I peeked into it to find that it's set up exactly like Purpose Driven Life (it's written by Rick Warren's brother-in-law, I believe). So, I figure this is a great way for me to jump start back into daily readings. I'm going to start the journey today, but in a separate entry, because I'm just enough OCD to want to do that.
40 days. . . this will be a great way to get me started in the school year. :)
40 days. . . this will be a great way to get me started in the school year. :)
7/14/2010
summer "vacation"
So. . . yeah. It's July 14th, and here is only my 6th post since school let out. Let's recap what's gone on, via pictures:
The week after school let out, I went to up to Michigan for a week. Here's the ole' homestead:
South Haven is on Lake Michigan, and we have a pretty beach area:
I played for a good friend's wedding:
Unfortunately the picture is sideways and I'm too lazy right now to shift it around.
After the wedding I went to Kalamazoo (where I attended college) and had dinner with some friends at Bilbo's:
It's a pizza place, and all their menu items have LOTR influences (A Shadow of the Past, Bag End BLT, etc). It was nice to catch up with some people, but soon after the trip to Kalamazoo, I was on a plane back to Florida.
I don't have a picture related to the workshop I went to right when I got back, nor do I have pictures from Homeland, so here's a picture of me with my friend's gigantic sunglasses on:
And right after Homeland, we decorated for VBS and did all the craziness that was involved:
That was my breakfast one morning, all yellow in honor of the Nursery's color coded day themes. My friend did some awesome planning for that (check her blog out), so I felt it appropriate to give the shout out.
We celebrated my birthday that weekend (since it happened over VBS). No pictures from that, but here's an epic grasshopper:
The rest of that week I spent working at school and hanging out with people, and then we celebrated Keri's birthday with a Hawaiian luau theme:
. . . OK, I might have cheated a little with that last picture.
And then it's been tech week for Oz all week:
(those are my page turners)
And Oz opens Friday!!
So. . . that's my life from the past few weeks. I have so many great books that I want to dive into! But I guess I'll have to make time for that when summer is over. Craziness, but I love it. A year ago, if someone had told me that this would be my life, I would have laughed at them.
I leave you with this: Phillipians has some great nuggets, and this is what I read this morning. I'll try and do a more insightful update in the near future.
The week after school let out, I went to up to Michigan for a week. Here's the ole' homestead:
South Haven is on Lake Michigan, and we have a pretty beach area:
I played for a good friend's wedding:
Unfortunately the picture is sideways and I'm too lazy right now to shift it around.
After the wedding I went to Kalamazoo (where I attended college) and had dinner with some friends at Bilbo's:
It's a pizza place, and all their menu items have LOTR influences (A Shadow of the Past, Bag End BLT, etc). It was nice to catch up with some people, but soon after the trip to Kalamazoo, I was on a plane back to Florida.
I don't have a picture related to the workshop I went to right when I got back, nor do I have pictures from Homeland, so here's a picture of me with my friend's gigantic sunglasses on:
And right after Homeland, we decorated for VBS and did all the craziness that was involved:
That was my breakfast one morning, all yellow in honor of the Nursery's color coded day themes. My friend did some awesome planning for that (check her blog out), so I felt it appropriate to give the shout out.
We celebrated my birthday that weekend (since it happened over VBS). No pictures from that, but here's an epic grasshopper:
The rest of that week I spent working at school and hanging out with people, and then we celebrated Keri's birthday with a Hawaiian luau theme:
. . . OK, I might have cheated a little with that last picture.
And then it's been tech week for Oz all week:
(those are my page turners)
And Oz opens Friday!!
So. . . that's my life from the past few weeks. I have so many great books that I want to dive into! But I guess I'll have to make time for that when summer is over. Craziness, but I love it. A year ago, if someone had told me that this would be my life, I would have laughed at them.
I leave you with this: Phillipians has some great nuggets, and this is what I read this morning. I'll try and do a more insightful update in the near future.
7/05/2010
wondering what God's point is in this
Well, I had another episode of sleep paralysis this afternoon (if you don't know what that's all about, I wrote about it the last time I experienced SP over the course of three blog entries: part 1, part 2, part 3). This is what I wrote down right after it happened (not that I'm going to forget it anytime soon anyway):
I thought I heard my phone ringing, but it was very far away. . . so I tried to get up and found I was being held down on both arms. . . there were noises; high pitched whirring sounds. . . it felt like something was trying to wriggle into my right ear. . . hard to breathe. . . couldn't move (of course). . . I chose not to open my eyes and see what I might be hallucinating. . . I knew it was SP but I tried to fight anyway, because choosing to go back to sleep, although an effective technique to get out, is a scary choice to make. . .
It was encouraging for me to go back and reread those previous entries. . . I'm just wondering why it happened again. I don't want to fall into the trap of over-analysis, but I also don't want to leave myself open to spiritual attack. I don't know what I might be doing that is contributing to this happening, or if I have any real influence over it at all.
*sigh* God. . . I know you have a reason for this to happen to me. . . I just wish I knew what it was.
I need to update about other things, but not right now. And who knows? Maybe someday I'll even get back into the book review thing (not that I've stopped reading, but I haven't been reading with the purpose of blogging about it).
I thought I heard my phone ringing, but it was very far away. . . so I tried to get up and found I was being held down on both arms. . . there were noises; high pitched whirring sounds. . . it felt like something was trying to wriggle into my right ear. . . hard to breathe. . . couldn't move (of course). . . I chose not to open my eyes and see what I might be hallucinating. . . I knew it was SP but I tried to fight anyway, because choosing to go back to sleep, although an effective technique to get out, is a scary choice to make. . .
It was encouraging for me to go back and reread those previous entries. . . I'm just wondering why it happened again. I don't want to fall into the trap of over-analysis, but I also don't want to leave myself open to spiritual attack. I don't know what I might be doing that is contributing to this happening, or if I have any real influence over it at all.
*sigh* God. . . I know you have a reason for this to happen to me. . . I just wish I knew what it was.
I need to update about other things, but not right now. And who knows? Maybe someday I'll even get back into the book review thing (not that I've stopped reading, but I haven't been reading with the purpose of blogging about it).
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