Discovering what love is one day at a time
William Shakespeare has a famous soliloquy...To Be or Not to Be...(To Live or to Die)...to live in this world or to give up...His words carried his fear of both worlds .The suffering of living in this one and the fear of the world unknown... And yet we know... because of Christ that we can endure the things of this world, and know that all things are for our sakes that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God...How important is it for us to believe that He loves us so extravagantly, that He loves us and is for us, and not against us. That even though we may not in the flesh agree with our circumstances, nor enjoy the moment of suffering, that we may be in pain, uncomfortable, unhappy, sick...or whatever, BUT God. He calls us to meditate on the things that are true, pure, praiseworthy...and yet in our circumstances sometimes we choose to meditate on all the things we do not like...we choose to open our mouths and speak out our anguish over the things that we are upset about the things that are right before our eyes...the circumstances that we are discontent with...and we complain...and our words become drippings of bitter water, that distill. How often, do we get consumed by the things that are happening around us? The eyes of our hearts get distracted, and focus not on the things that are always true and steadfast in our lives, but we get focused on the forever changing circumstances, and allow our human flesh to rule, instead of being led by the spirit… This looks like discontent, expressing our grief over a situation, our lack of comfort, and even our pain. And yet in this we feel fully justified…but we set ourselves higher…in a place of judgment, a place that says this isn’t good enough for me… How come we go to this place? It is an easy place to go. And yet God calls us to take heed of what has been given to us. That we are to guard what has been entrusted to us. We are to carefully consider, to meditate on those things that are pure and true. He tells us to give thanks in everything. We know that He has a plan and a purpose for us…We know that His ways are higher than our ways, and yet we either spoken or unspoken take it upon ourselves to complain against Him and bring a charge against the One who is always for us and never against us. Who gave His life so that we might live and have life in abundance. Instead of offering a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, we offer a false worship unto our King and really we turn out to be the treacherous one…We do not refrain our mouths, we speak in the anguish of our spirit and we complain in the bitterness of our soul…and the reality is, we have unbelief, we are doubting God. The One who promises that His arm is not shortened, The One who tells us He will turn our mountains into highways, the One through all things are possible. We lack faith in Him. There isn’t a problem with God, the problem is with us. Isn’t it amazing and wonderful that He gives us the symptoms? He shows us through our behavior and our words and our emotions the symptoms of unbelief, that we feel that anguish as our hearts are leaving His presence, or remaining in the place of darkness. Isn’t it amazing how He shows us where we are resting…whether it is in the arms of our lover, or our King? If we are resting in His arms we have peace, and we have that full abounding joy…but if not we are being drained, or completely sucked dry. When we open our mouths to give thanks we are lifting up a sacrifice of praise unto the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When we complain it is meditating on the opposite. It is offering false worship before the Lord; it is bringing a charge against the Kingdom of God, and in a sense self-worship/pride and just really not a good place to be. Today and everyday let us choose to encourage one another to choose to rejoice and be glad in the day that we have been given. He has written every one of our days in His book before anyone of them has come to be. He is for us and not against us. He knows every word that is on our tongues before they are even spoken. He died so that we might live. Let us live, fully, abundantly in the provision He has given us. For we have a lifetime and an eternity to enjoy the goodness and beauty He has procured for us. How amazing is His grace for us! He has enriched us in everything to all bountifulness! His Love for us is so extravagant!
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AuthorI have been married to my wonderful husband for 29 years. We have two young men ages 25 and 20.. This blog is somewhat of a journal and attempt for me to remind myself of my purpose and invite others to join me in keeping an eternal perspective as we move through each day. Archives
May 2023
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