I have been catching up on some emails because I have been a bit busy lately and have not been on top of things.
Funny eh! How often do we say this? How often is it true?
Yes we are REALLY busy, probably busier than any other time in history for women.
Our daily journals and calendars are PACKED with appointments, our "to do" list looks more like a encyclopedia's table of contents than a prompt for little tasks that we dont want to slip our mind.
We are so busy that we cant always (or dare I say it often?!) fit in our time with the Lord.
But come on girls- are we being honest with ourselves? Are we plain being decieved? or worse being self- decieved?
Lets really open our eyes:
Are we so busy that we must leave the house in our pjs because we just could spare the time to get dressed and brush our hair and teeth? (Im not talking about the bus- run- or the fact that Im typing this in my pj's!! Im talking about the grocery store, the post office, work, church, - I have never heard- "nope- I just couldn't spare the time to get dressed this morning!"
Or maybe are we sooo busy that we just plain couldnt eat today?
I hear you saying..." Yep I've left the house and skipped breakfast" but what did you do all morning? I know I looked for opportunities to grab a bite- a takeaway coffee or a breakfast bar from my purse. If I get to lunchtime and still havent eaten, I feel terrible, I am definately not functioning at my best. I am really determined by now to slow down and swing by the drive-thru, or take a swig out of the toddler's juice bottle. If I dont and I am still racing around by 2pm I am just about ready to eat those unidentified crackers from beside the toddlers car- seat.
If one of our girlfriends sees us in the street and says "wow, you look dreadful" and it is revealed that it is 3pm and you still havent eaten today, I can gaurantee she will grab you by the sleeve and march you to a cafe, or pull a trusty cereal bar from HER purse to tide you over.
You get it- We make it a priority to feed our bodies.
If we dont we get sick.
We need to make it a priority to feed our Spirit- if we dont we will get REALLY sick.
We need to be that aware of the vital importance our time with the Lord is and as committed to consuming the Word as we are to our earthly eatting. As sisters in Christ we need to be watching out for our sisters- ready to check if they are ok today and be ready with a spiritual muesli bar as the case may be.
I have been so blessed to be part of a "Good Morning Girls" group for some months now and each lady in this group has asked to be accountable to the rest of the group for making her time with the Lord a priority. I love the Lord. I want to make Him my focus and priority as the stuff of life seems to pile up no matter how much I get done in the day. I love the group as they help me stay accountable (or convicted as the case may be...) Every weekday we spend time reading the word and then send of a quick email to the rest of the group. It is not a Bible study or forum for preaching, it is about saying, "I read this today and I learned this" or "I ddin't make it today, please pray for me tomorrow" but it has been an tremendous blessing to me. The girls in my group have prayed for me, encouraged me, and taught me.
I challenge you to make your time with the Lord your priority .
Last week on Scripture Dig there was a FANTASTIC Alphabet Priorities Poster.
Please check it out- It is now printed and pasted on my biggest excuse or diverter of time from the Lord- ;;';;./; -pl'lo opps, sorry, the tape got in the way of the "Send" button,
Blessings all
Showing posts with label Word. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Word. Show all posts
Friday, July 23, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
How are you dressed today?
Today I am praising God for the beautiful weather. It is a gorgeous sunny day with a lovely breeze. My plan was to get some washing done. Then came a lesson from The Lord in my washday.
We all give a fair bit of attention to our clothes. After all, we pay good money for them or have taken our time to measure, cut and sew them.
Today my verse was Colossians 3.12-14
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. (The Message)
"Put on" is an instruction to do something on purpose. To make a decision ahead of time on how we are going to act. God is instructing us to on purpose put on mercy, put on peace, gentle ways, humility and most of all put on love. I have to do these things on purpose- giving them my attention.
Every morning I get dressed. When I get dressed- I give my attention to making sure that my clothes match, that the colours and textures go together. I check that the clothes that I am putting on are clean, properly fitting and appropriate. I also take care when I select the clothes by giving consideration to outside influences, such as the weather, to make sure I am protected. The conditions that I wear my clothes in will effect what I put on that day. If the day is very cold and rainy I put on more clothes.
We know that we live in an age of wickedness, just take a look at any news stand or news bulletin. The Word tells us: Matt 24.. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.
We know we live in dark times. We don’t even have to look globally. We just have to drive to our local store: on the way we see road rage, rude attitudes of people, swearing, lazy attitudes of thoughtless people, some days these people are even ourselves!- I am ashamed to say just how mad I can get when someone cuts me off or the cashier is talking on the phone when I’m in a hurry to pay and get going, my attitude alone is evidence enough!
It is really important that we take care and attention in our spiritual dressing each morning before we start our day and prepare to meet its pressures and headaches and frustrations. We need to accurately assess the climate in which we live. We know that in our daily lives the enemy makes it his business to mess around stealing our peace and joy. John 10.10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; Every day we see evidence of this in anger, frustrations and resentments invading our homes, our marriages, our attitudes. We need to purposefully dress for these conditions so that we are well protected and prepared.
I take care doing my buttons & tying my shoe laces, I usually check in the mirror that I haven’t missed anything and that I am ready for the day. In the same way I need to check my preparation against the Word of God- held up against the Scriptures- does the “end result” of how I appear reflect Godliness. Am I showing and living in an attitude of love, peace and joy? Am I walking in love? I may want to show off my beautiful designer jacket but if it has a big stain on it I will have to do some serious work to get it presentable again. So it is with my life, when I fall into sins such as pride, selfishness and anger, I am showing a stain which is an area that needs some pre- treating to get it cleaned and right. If I simply ignore my bad attitudes they will set and remain spoiling the whole garment.
Some days I get up and get dressed quickly and don’t get it right and my dear 13yo says "lovingly" that I don’t match- I haven’t done a good job of preparing and I need to adjust my choices to be well dressed. Similarly some days my circumstances tell me that I haven’t done a good job of getting spiritually dressed too. I don’t put on enough "mercy"- I scream at my kids when they are clumsy or slow. I get frustrated if I am waiting and the checkout line is long. I need to take time in those times to make the effort to go back and put on "mercy" on purpose. I can be self controlled with my kids. I can correct them gently and lovingly without yelling- I need to prepare my heart to do that EVERY day. It is not an easy thing for an over tired, busy mum to be gentle. I find it is not a character quality that I naturally have. I need to spend extra time giving attention to this area.
A considerable part of my chore time as a mum is spent on clothes. We make such preparations for getting dressed even before the actual act of getting dressed begins-we sort, spray (treating spots and stains that left unchecked would ruin a garment) we wash, dry, iron and fold clothes, so that the family has all that we need to get dressed each morning. I really want to make a priority to spend time IN each day soaking in the Word. Not to grab a hurried minutes but to really treasure the time as a priority.
I wonder what my days would look like if I spend time- even 5 minutes every morning- getting spiritually dressed on purpose, before I start my day.
How are you dressed today?
We all give a fair bit of attention to our clothes. After all, we pay good money for them or have taken our time to measure, cut and sew them.
Today my verse was Colossians 3.12-14
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. (The Message)
"Put on" is an instruction to do something on purpose. To make a decision ahead of time on how we are going to act. God is instructing us to on purpose put on mercy, put on peace, gentle ways, humility and most of all put on love. I have to do these things on purpose- giving them my attention.
Every morning I get dressed. When I get dressed- I give my attention to making sure that my clothes match, that the colours and textures go together. I check that the clothes that I am putting on are clean, properly fitting and appropriate. I also take care when I select the clothes by giving consideration to outside influences, such as the weather, to make sure I am protected. The conditions that I wear my clothes in will effect what I put on that day. If the day is very cold and rainy I put on more clothes.
We know that we live in an age of wickedness, just take a look at any news stand or news bulletin. The Word tells us: Matt 24.. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.
We know we live in dark times. We don’t even have to look globally. We just have to drive to our local store: on the way we see road rage, rude attitudes of people, swearing, lazy attitudes of thoughtless people, some days these people are even ourselves!- I am ashamed to say just how mad I can get when someone cuts me off or the cashier is talking on the phone when I’m in a hurry to pay and get going, my attitude alone is evidence enough!
It is really important that we take care and attention in our spiritual dressing each morning before we start our day and prepare to meet its pressures and headaches and frustrations. We need to accurately assess the climate in which we live. We know that in our daily lives the enemy makes it his business to mess around stealing our peace and joy. John 10.10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; Every day we see evidence of this in anger, frustrations and resentments invading our homes, our marriages, our attitudes. We need to purposefully dress for these conditions so that we are well protected and prepared.
I take care doing my buttons & tying my shoe laces, I usually check in the mirror that I haven’t missed anything and that I am ready for the day. In the same way I need to check my preparation against the Word of God- held up against the Scriptures- does the “end result” of how I appear reflect Godliness. Am I showing and living in an attitude of love, peace and joy? Am I walking in love? I may want to show off my beautiful designer jacket but if it has a big stain on it I will have to do some serious work to get it presentable again. So it is with my life, when I fall into sins such as pride, selfishness and anger, I am showing a stain which is an area that needs some pre- treating to get it cleaned and right. If I simply ignore my bad attitudes they will set and remain spoiling the whole garment.
Some days I get up and get dressed quickly and don’t get it right and my dear 13yo says "lovingly" that I don’t match- I haven’t done a good job of preparing and I need to adjust my choices to be well dressed. Similarly some days my circumstances tell me that I haven’t done a good job of getting spiritually dressed too. I don’t put on enough "mercy"- I scream at my kids when they are clumsy or slow. I get frustrated if I am waiting and the checkout line is long. I need to take time in those times to make the effort to go back and put on "mercy" on purpose. I can be self controlled with my kids. I can correct them gently and lovingly without yelling- I need to prepare my heart to do that EVERY day. It is not an easy thing for an over tired, busy mum to be gentle. I find it is not a character quality that I naturally have. I need to spend extra time giving attention to this area.
A considerable part of my chore time as a mum is spent on clothes. We make such preparations for getting dressed even before the actual act of getting dressed begins-we sort, spray (treating spots and stains that left unchecked would ruin a garment) we wash, dry, iron and fold clothes, so that the family has all that we need to get dressed each morning. I really want to make a priority to spend time IN each day soaking in the Word. Not to grab a hurried minutes but to really treasure the time as a priority.
I wonder what my days would look like if I spend time- even 5 minutes every morning- getting spiritually dressed on purpose, before I start my day.
How are you dressed today?
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