“Stop trying to protect, to rescue, to judge, to manage the lives around you . . . remember that the lives of others are not your business. They are their business. They are God’s business . . . even your own life is not your business. It also is God’s business. Leave it to God. It is an astonishing thought. It can become a life-transforming thought . . . unclench the fists of your spirit and take it easy . . . What deadens us most to God’s presence within us, I think, is the inner dialogue that we are continuously engaged in with ourselves, the endless chatter of human thought. I suspect that there is nothing more crucial to true spiritual comfort . . . than being able from time to time to stop that chatter . . . ” ~ Frederich Buechner
ZECHARIAH 10-12
1Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime;
it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms.
He gives showers of rain to all people,
and plants of the field to everyone.
2The idols speak deceitfully,
diviners see visions that lie;
they tell dreams that are false,
they give comfort in vain.
Therefore the people wander like sheep
oppressed for lack of a shepherd.(10:1-2)
REVELATION 20
And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. Theya had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
JOURNAL
One of the struggles I have and I daresay every human also battles is the internal dialogue. The constant thoughts and judgments and opinions about others and myself. It is one of the amazing gifts of being human but it is also one of the curses. This ability has a way of taking me out of the present moment and drowning me in thoughts that many times are not productive or loving.
Years ago at Onsite I learned some great ways of stopping all those ping-pong thoughts and chatter. It relieved me and helped me find a peace that I had rarely ever experienced. Unfortunately I engage in this habit daily but I also am able to have a better perspective to realize the truth of Buechner's quote. It helps me to see that life is way bigger than my perspective, I get the blessing and joy of living in a world and time that is full of details, variety and for the most part peace and opportunity that would have been unthinkable 2000 years ago.
Thank you father for this reminder, for my opportunity and my small place in this world that you have blessed and allowed me to live. Help me to see it in all it's color, variety and wonder. Help me to free my mind from apathy and worry and instead see the opportunity and joy of today.
Thank you father for this reminder, for my opportunity and my small place in this world that you have blessed and allowed me to live. Help me to see it in all it's color, variety and wonder. Help me to free my mind from apathy and worry and instead see the opportunity and joy of today.
We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,e 10so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified youf to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
COLOSSIANS 1:9-14
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