Good morning all, and happy Sunday :-)
I'm just gonna jump right in with Day 6's spiritual reflections.
I'm just gonna jump right in with Day 6's spiritual reflections.
-What does it mean to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength?
I think the crux of this first and greatest commandment is doing everything in our lives as a sacrifice to Christ.
In our daily work we must strive to do our absolute best, whether that be at a job, school, or at home. So many jobs exist on this planet as people are all made differently, and have different God-given desires, skills, passions, and callings. God has revealed my calling to be teaching. I am so excited to begin this journey and know that it will be a hard road; especially since the comment so many veteran teachers make in regards to my future plans is, "Why would you want to do that?!" But by living out my love of Christ by putting my all into my work, I do honestly believe that it will be more rewarding than not.
I won't go into too much detail here about loving God through our relationships as I expounded upon it in yesterday's post. But I will say this, sacrificially loving others has got to be the absolute best way to live out God's love.
Finances. All of the money that each of us has is not ours; it is instead, God's. We must always trust that He knows best in regards to sustaining us, and so give of ourselves financially, without complaint or worry, to organizations that spread the gospel and/or our home churches. Remember this verse?:
But if God so clothes the grass,
which is alive in the field today,
and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,
how much more will He clothe you,
O you of little faith!
-Luke 12:28
This is definitely an aspect of my love for God that needs some work. I am utterly broke at the moment with no job for the summer and my savings depleted substantially after paying for summer classes. Regardless, I need to trust in God's plan for me and remember the flowers that he clothes daily.
There are so many other aspects of our lives that I could mention here, but I'll end with just one more...cleaning/decluttering of course! Check out what I wrote in this post to understand what I mean.
v. 1b: I have called you by name,
you are Mine.
v. 19b: I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
These verses pretty much speak for themselves. Even when we are in the most despairing conditions and feel lost and alone, God is there, and He will make a way. He will provide us with life sustaining water to get us through the difficult times because we are His, we are children of the most high God. Just think about the news stories of some powerfully faithful Haitians after the earthquake a few years ago. There were people stuck in debris for days who spent that time of hopelessness constantly praying to God, knowing that He had a plan and that He was still taking care of them. If they can trust in the Lord in such horrific times, then how much more should I be able to trust the Lord during difficult times in my life. Depression is a powerful enemy, but as it says in verse 2a:
When you go through deep waters and great trouble,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown!
This is a verse that I need to hold on to with all my might and write on my heart so that it's hope and love will never ever leave me.
I actually just (literally) came across an article in the newspaper this morning (well, it's from June 17) that shares a wonderful quote from Lorena Ewalt, married to Bruce Ewalt, and mother of their two children. She happens to be an illegal immigrant who is leaving the country so that she can gain citizenship the legal way, leaving her children and husband (all born in America) behind in the process. She says, "I am a good person, and I have put my trust in God. I just believe He has a plan in America for me and my family." Wow, talk about a difficult time, and what courage and grace she has in trusting God to take care of her and her family.
Cleaning went well yesterday, although man can going through magazine after magazine get tedious after awhile! I did in fact have 46 issues of Star Wars Insider - told ya...close to 50...craziness!!! And in addition to those 46, about 8 more other publication with Star Wars on the cover. I've now gone through all of them and greatly decreased the amount of space they take up...thank goodness.
Some questions to consider when decluttering magazines:
- Do I really care about every single article in this issue?
- Is this subject relevant to my life anymore? (certain pets for example)
- Are political magazines from several years ago really necessary to keep?
- Just because I like what's on the cover should I keep the whole magazine?
- Since I'm no longer 10 years old, should I really keep kid magazines about certain topics?
- Do periodicals from 3 or more years ago really need to be read in their entirety even if they are trade magazines, scientific journals, or alumni publications? (I find this incredibly difficult, especially with trade publications.)
Well, I'm incredibly close to being done with all of my magazines. I came across several short stories in some of the Star Wars Insiders that I want to read (I've truly enjoyed each one I've read so far) so I have to do that before some of the issues can be thrown away. And I still have about 5 Wildlife Professionals to look through. After I do those 2 things, I'm putting all the magazines left over in my old school burlap and wood stand up magazine holder...for reading at my leisure.
Lastly, I wanted to mention that I snuck in another 15 minute tornado clean on Friday; this time in my bathroom. It really is incredibly lovely to have a sparkling bath tub, soap-residueless sink rim, and dustless decorations :-)
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