Friday, March 08, 2013
Halftime Report!
And we've reached the midway point (sorta). 21 more days to go!
In general, I've been thinking a lot about the following scripture:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
~Isaiah 55:8-9
In the same way I think children model their parents, this is a way that children of God can model God. It's something toward which I am gravitating (not saying I am anywhere near God!).
I do things that other people consider strange. I've been told I'm "too honest." At times, "too generous." (That, by the way, is SO not true.) Too giving.
Well, I've made a decision in my life. I think I actually made it a long time ago. To try to live by the spirit, not by the world's rules. God gave me an amazing gift. When I get out of my own way and "hush up" (as my grandma would have said), I can hear God speaking to me. And when I listen (not nearly often enough), He leads me to do things that don't make sense to most people. But I trust Him. He is my rock and my stronghold. And thus far, He has never led me wrong.
So I try my best to listen for the Holy Spirit, to hear what God has to say to me. What purpose does He have for me in this world? Love, always. That's really the only underlying message of the bible (sorry fans of the Davinci Code!). But what new ways can God reveal His love to me. And in what ways can I share that love with others? And in what ways will that love bless someone else?
It's sort of fun to think about: that chain reaction. Me loving you loving someone else loving someone else. That thought makes me feel very good.
So far as Lent promises, all three of us in the Massie-Murray household are holding strong. The other day I went to log onto Facebook as Bariatric Foodie and somehow got taken to my personal account. There are a lot of notifications there. And messages. I did not check them. Frankly, I ran away from them as fast as I could!
I use the term "drinking the Kool-Aid" facetiously sometimes. But I think that's what Facebook is in my life. When I let it, it becomes very important. Too important. I become too dependent. It's slow going so far but in these last few weeks I've learned to sit with me. Be still with me. And some surprising feelings have come to the surface. Some things about myself that I don't like very much and want to change.
I'm working on it. But thank GOD that God's ways are not my ways. That His ways are higher than mine. Because what kind of trouble would I be in - would we ALL be in - if His standards were the same as mine?
Yikes!
In general, I've been thinking a lot about the following scripture:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
~Isaiah 55:8-9
In the same way I think children model their parents, this is a way that children of God can model God. It's something toward which I am gravitating (not saying I am anywhere near God!).
I do things that other people consider strange. I've been told I'm "too honest." At times, "too generous." (That, by the way, is SO not true.) Too giving.
Well, I've made a decision in my life. I think I actually made it a long time ago. To try to live by the spirit, not by the world's rules. God gave me an amazing gift. When I get out of my own way and "hush up" (as my grandma would have said), I can hear God speaking to me. And when I listen (not nearly often enough), He leads me to do things that don't make sense to most people. But I trust Him. He is my rock and my stronghold. And thus far, He has never led me wrong.
So I try my best to listen for the Holy Spirit, to hear what God has to say to me. What purpose does He have for me in this world? Love, always. That's really the only underlying message of the bible (sorry fans of the Davinci Code!). But what new ways can God reveal His love to me. And in what ways can I share that love with others? And in what ways will that love bless someone else?
It's sort of fun to think about: that chain reaction. Me loving you loving someone else loving someone else. That thought makes me feel very good.
So far as Lent promises, all three of us in the Massie-Murray household are holding strong. The other day I went to log onto Facebook as Bariatric Foodie and somehow got taken to my personal account. There are a lot of notifications there. And messages. I did not check them. Frankly, I ran away from them as fast as I could!
I use the term "drinking the Kool-Aid" facetiously sometimes. But I think that's what Facebook is in my life. When I let it, it becomes very important. Too important. I become too dependent. It's slow going so far but in these last few weeks I've learned to sit with me. Be still with me. And some surprising feelings have come to the surface. Some things about myself that I don't like very much and want to change.
I'm working on it. But thank GOD that God's ways are not my ways. That His ways are higher than mine. Because what kind of trouble would I be in - would we ALL be in - if His standards were the same as mine?
Yikes!
# posted by Bariatric Foodie @ 8:16 AM 
