SEPTEMBER 24, 2016

“But until a person can say deeply and honestly, "I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday," that person cannot say, "I choose otherwise.” 
― Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

ISAIAH 1-3

22Stop trusting in mere humans,

who have but a breath in their nostrils.

Why hold them in esteem? (2:23)

GALATIANS 2

 20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”^e

JOURNAL 

These verses affirm that we are never to be enslaved in our hearts and minds to other humans. There are times and still today there are places that people's bodies are the possessions of others. However the mind and the spirit can never be unless we allow it. It is the same with anything that is not God.

My mind and heart are free to choose...yet it is through choosing God that I find joy and peace no matter my physical circumstances. It is in this choosing that I find that there is strength and power in being able to surrender to God in my mind and heart.  For God's ways are far greater than man's and his ways are good and true and are anchored in love. Why therefore would I ever choose to surrender to man rather than God?

It is because this is how we learn and this is how we grow up. There are patterns that we accept and adopt that are rooted in pleasing man rather than God. These patterns and these habits are what I am struggling to break. To do so feels wrong and self-destructive however this is the crux of the faith and the crossroads of my own journey...who and what do I follow and choose??

13“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

MATTHEW 7:13-14

What did I learn?

1) The power of the herd can be worked for good...

2) My basement can hold well over 100 kids

3) Every day and every moment is precious and a gift. To embrace this and to truly possess it is to live life in a state of gratefulness and wonder

SEPTEMBER 23, 2016

“A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering.” 
― Dalai Lama XIV, The Art of Happiness

SONG OF SOLOMON 6-8

7Many waters cannot quench love;

rivers cannot sweep it away.

If one were to give

all the wealth of one’s house for love,

it^c would be utterly scorned. (8:7) 

GALATIANS 1

10Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

JOURNAL 

Doing meditation this morning I was overcome by the reality of being able to sit still while certain thoughts and emotions came and went. I could literally see them in my mind as passing cars. My temptation was to reach out them and get in and possess them or to either run from them in fear. Yet I was able just to sit and watch and calmly not react.

Even now as I sit I have a compulsion and an energy to get up and walk around. However I am learning to let that compulsion go and to sit here and remain focused on typing and doing my devotion. Doing this level of discipline is what has been sorely missing in my life. I have tended to fight my emotions...at times going wherever my emotions took me and or trying to create and or squash or run from them. The reality of knowing that I can stand apart from them and then decide whether to indulge them or to simply let them pass is freeing. It gives me confidence and it keeps me focused in the heart of God.

1The wicked flee though no one pursues,

but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

2When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers,

but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order.

PROVERBS 28:1-2

What did I learn?

1) The discipline of doing is about learning to separate from feelings without trying to squash them.

2) There are times when reaching out to people can be manipulative and passive aggressive in nature. I think that there are times when I reach out to give encouragement, because I want encouragement. Therefore it can be a bit intrusive to reach out in this way.  However there is a fine line to this but it goes back to my own motivations. Because there are times when it is good for me to risk rejection and vulnerability in reaching out.

3) Owning feelings of loneliness and despair can actually bring calm and healing. Many times it is the fear of these emotions that sends me to do things and act in ways to purposefully squash them or derail them rather than owning them and realizing that they don't control me. Realizing that I actually have control over them. I can separate myself from them while understanding them and honoring them as good emotions designed to help me in the world.

SEPTEMBER 22, 2016

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” 
― Mother Teresa

SONG OF SOLOMON 4-5

Eat, friends, and drink;

drink your fill of love. (5:1) 

2 CORINTHIANS 13

11Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

JOURNAL 

Life is hard. No matter your circumstance, everyone struggles, everyone doubts, everyone feels lonely, everyone worries, waits, cries, hurts. Every single person on the entire earth has a burden to bear...Once we really embrace that, once we really see through the haze of our own hurt, we realize we are all God's children, we are all far from home and we all ache to be back in his arms.

Yet it is only in the realization of our own ineptness that we can actually connect to our true Father and therefore connect to all his children. It is in these moments when loneliness becomes a passion to comfort. It is in these moments when hurt becomes a passion to heal, anger becomes a passion to reconcile, hatred becomes a passion to love. God can transform it all in a blink of an eye, sometimes all it takes is a smile, a word, a hug, a note. To be part of that...to be used by God in his love for each other is an amazing gift, it always catches me off guard.

It is in these moments that I am overwhelmed by joy...regardless of circumstances.

34“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

JOHN 13:34-35