Media addicted and spiritually desensitized?

Today while driving I happened upon a sermon being given about Media addiction and becoming spiritually desensitized. He challenged everyone to do a media fast and find out how addicted to media you are, or how spiritually desensitized you have become.
While this may sound easy, it may well be the hardest thing you do.


1. Take upon yourself to have a media fast for 1-10 days
This means totally unplugged from the media.  Turn off that phone, turn off the television, the radio in the car etc. It all has to go.  

Do this for at least one day, but up to ten if you can handle it.
Some will start to get jittery after an hour, going to check the phone. You may begin itching for that feeling of connection, stirring to hear the background sounds of all the media noise that is always around. If it is hard to go even an hour, you know that you are addicted.

2. After a period of media fasting turn on prime-time television and watch for an hour.

You may be shocked at what you find.

I have taken time to fast from the media several times over the last few years. I even wrote about it nearly 3 years ago on my other blog encouraging people to take time out to unplug.  It is nice to get away from the media for a bit. It is nice to take a breather, but I did not go on to step 2. I did not stop to look at these questions: How does all the media affect us? Do we really get desensitized by it?
  
 Recently I had an experience that put it all into perspective. I was watching the television and I started noticing that on this particular show people were being brutalized and shot right in front of my face and I was watching realized that I was not having much of a reaction to it. It was just "normal" All of a sudden a passage of scripture from the Book of Mormon ran through my mind from Mormon 2:18......  "a continual scene of  wickedness and abominations has been before my eyes" It awoke me to the state that I was in. 

I also at this time had an experience where I had picked a TV series for my husband and I to watch. We began the series and after a few episodes I noticed that there were things happening in the show that I knew were not good, yet I watched on because I was addicted to the series. A few more episodes and I found myself watching the women on this show-- women who were living a life far different from my own and found myself thinking "Is that what men want a woman to be like? Maybe I should...."  All of a sudden; I awoke to my thoughts and said "Whoa! hold on a minute, Did I really just think that?"  I was shocked and in disbelief that I had those thoughts. I told my husband that we could not watch that show anymore because it was affecting my thoughts and the way I related to the world.  He agreed, yet he was like me--addicted!  

A few more episodes and we finally decided to put the series away for good. It was poisoning us.  I began to be more aware of what the family was being exposed to. I was finding it hard to be a good Christian/Proverbs 31 woman when other ideas and ways to behave were being presented before me. It was all becoming too appealing. I was starting to want to please the world as opposed to God. It was a startling realization for me to realize that I had convinced myself that "it isn't all that bad, there are worse things that we could be watching" but drop by drop it was adding up, the attitudes of what we were exposing ourselves to was creeping in my attitude and thoughts were changing. I was accepting things that 5 years ago I would have never even have imagined.  It was time for a real change. 

Now, We unplug a whole lot more. We are finding more time dedicated to learning the ways of the Lord and reading the scriptures. We are finding ourselves telling  and retelling the stories of courage and hope from them. We are very aware of the media and are limiting its influence. We still watch more TV than needed, but I am putting a plan in place to limit the amount of media this summer while the children are out of school.  It is a battle worth fighting.  Being aware is the first step to lasting change. I am glad I became aware and have been able to begin a new chapter in our lives.  Now it is your turn. Try the challenge, see what happens in your life.

Blessings to you,

Happy Momma 



  

First responses are not always the best response

 

Life is not always about what happens to us, but how we respond to the situations around us. Sometimes it begins with making a different choice other than what our "first response" would dictate.
I recently read an article from hands free momma's blog which helped me to remember that I am not alone it all this.

http://www.handsfreemama.com/2014/05/09/today-i-lived-and-you-did-too/#more-5603

Here are a few thoughts that come out of my book "Goodbye surviving, Hello thriving"  I hope to have it available early fall.  

 

Life has been a journey. It has taken me to places that I never imagined. But I have had to learn new skills and habits along the way. I also have had to break some of those habits that have not served me well. I have had to learn  some "new responses" to situations.

"I remember one Sunday morning when my young daughter who was about four years old came into the bathroom while I was getting ready for church. She told me. "Mom you and I, we look so beautiful in our dresses; let's dance! " The old, worried, stressed out me would have pushed that aside and say, "Not now honey, I don't have the time we are going to be late."  I was learning the power of those little moments. I swept up my daughter and took ten or fifteen seconds out of my life to whisk her about the bathroom in a magical dance. In those few seconds we were both swept up into a fantasy land,  a magical moment that could have easily been lost. The dance only lasted a few moments, but the feelings lasted most of the day, and the memory will last a lifetime."   

 

 

Adaption and learning new strategies and habits

We become what we repeatedly do. Steven covey (7 habits of highly effective teens)

"Sometimes, I get the feeling that we're just a bunch of habits. The gestures we repeat over and over, they're just our need to be recognized. Without them, we'd be unidentifiable. We have to reinvent ourselves every minute.” Nicole Krauss

"It has been said that we are nothing more than our behaviors repeated throughout  our entire life. We are made up of daily life choices. We are also talking of daily habits, especially the ones that seem like they are not a choice anymore because they come so easily, and we do not consciously realize that we are making a choice because it is just habit. Some daily habits serve us well, but far too many of us have habits and strategies for getting us through life that really do not serve us well. We all have a habit of insisting on keeping up these broken strategies that really do not work. Why?  Because they are habits, and habits have a history of being too hard to break. Let me share with you an example from my own life.  

I had found myself in a bad habit of yelling at my children. The trouble  was that the children were beginning to model that same behavior. I found myself hating the fact that they were yelling at one another. We were getting to be a very loud family. I found myself wondering what it was going to be like once they all reached the teenage years. The thought of three very loud, yelling teenagers was frightening. We found ourselves yelling at each other to a point that everyone was yelling and nobody was  listening to anybody. Everyone was getting louder and louder to be heard over the other yellers.  It was out of control. I could only see it getting worse and worse, with no end in sight

It was my middle child who was the catalyst for change. She began holding her hands over her ears for large parts of the day. She is very sensitive to words, and yelling was over the top for her. She couldn't stand it anymore. I would notice her in the midst of the yelling with her hands over her ears.  Then I noticed that she would just tune out anything and everything going on in the house for large parts of the day. She was not happy in life.  She was spending way too much time with her hands over her ears or just plain tuned out to life. I knew it was not healthy for a 5 year old to be like this, I just didn't know what to do about it.  

One day I came to this daughter to give her a compliment on something that she had done well, and out of habit her hands went over her ears and her eyes closed. I was not angry at all, and I was not yelling, but she had gotten into the habit, she was ready for me to start yelling because most of the time it was that way.  I stood there in shock. What had we come too?  I felt like a monster, my child was hiding from me, and all I wanted to do was to tell her that I loved her and that she had done a good job.  My heart was about to break. I slowly took her hands off her ears, I whispered to her, "please open your eyes, I want to talk to you."  She shook her head  to tell me no.  I began to feel angry at her response toward me, but more angry with myself. The feelings I had were so strong, but the sadness coming from her was even stronger. I shut my mouth and waited.  She finally opened her eyes, but wouldn't look at me. When I finally  reached under her chin and held her head up, she looked at me with such sadness in her huge blue eyes, I was pierced to the soul.  "Why did you cover your ears when you saw me coming?" I asked,--- " I thought you were going to yell at me like you always do." was her reply, "I do not like the yelling and everyone keeps on yelling all the time, it never stops."  Oh my heart ached, I vowed that moment that we were going to change that habit.

How? What needed to happen for us to change? I called a family meeting right away. I announced that there was a new family rule. No yelling. I was going to start and set the example. We had to break this habit and replace it with another. "Yelling is not communicating" became our key phrase. The other was, "We do not communicate by yelling".  When we found ourselves yelling the new habit was this.... We were to stop, take a deep breath, and repeat one of those two phrases before continuing on with what we wanted to say in a nice, calm voice.

It was hard work. I would get about three words into my yelling rant and then have to stop, take a deep breath, repeat the phrase, then speak softly and kindly. It seemed like I was repeating these phrases five thousand times a day. It was exhausting at times.  About the third day, I was ready to give in, I had tried, but it was such hard work. I felt like it was constantly on my mind and a constant battle I didn't know I would ever win. I felt like I didn't have time to stop, and repeat the phrase so many times a day, but my little blue eyed girl caught my attention again. I noticed that she was not spending so much of her time tuned out to life with her hands over her ears. I also noticed that the sparkle was coming back to her eyes. She was doing better, and we were beginning to see results in the rest of us too. So we continued on the journey.

It was nearly six months into the journey when I realized that I had made it until noon without having to repeat the words; "yelling is not how we communicate".  I was overjoyed. We had come so far. It was no longer a constant, conscious, nearly overwhelming effort.  It was becoming a new habit not to yell. It made those long days in the beginning worth it. "

 

My hope and prayer is that we will find a desire to be better, to do better, to be a little slower in responding becoming aware that there may be something better than that "first initial response".   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

meekness is not weakness

 

 

 

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth. Matthew 5:5 

 

 

 

 

 

When I looked up the definition of meek or meekness I was surprised to see that nearly every definition was written in a manner that conjures up thoughts of cowardice, weakness and even laziness. I knew that this was not quite right. I am smart enough to know that this is not what the Lord would have for us. I knew that I needed to do some deeper study and get some new thoughts about what meekness really is.  

 

A bit of insight and awakening happened when I was looking at the Miriam Webster dictionary under the word meek and came up with a list of related words and near antonyms for meek. 

Related Words acquiescent, compliant, deferential, resigned, submissive, unaggressive, unassertive, yielding; cowering, cringing, shrinking; ingenuous, naive (or naïve), plain, simple, unaffected; bashful, diffident, introverted, mousy (or mousey), overmodest, passive, quiet, reserved, retiring, sheepish, shy, subdued, timid, unobtrusive; aw-shucks, self-deprecating, self-deprecatory, self-effacing

I read that list of words related to meek and thought to myself, "nobody really aspires to be those things, and many of them do not sound very God-like, Why would God ask me to be these things?"  I then read on to the next part the near antonyms (or opposite) of the word meek. The thought crossed my mind, "If you are not meek, then you must be these other things that are the opposite of meek."  
 

Near Antonyms aggressive, assertive, audacious, bold, brash, brassy, cheeky, forward, impertinent, impudent, saucy; cocksure, cocky, confident, hubristic, overconfident, self-confident; egocentric, egoistic (also egoistical), narcissistic, prideful, self-affected, self-centered, self-complacent, self-conceited, self-congratulatory, self-contented, self-engrossed, self-important, self-obsessed, self-pleased, self-satisfied, smug, stuck-up, swelled-headed; boastful, bombastic, braggy, swaggering, vain, vainglorious; condescending, disdainful, dominant, dominating, domineering, magisterial, overbearing, patronizing, pontificating; flamboyant, ostentatious, showy; extroverted (also extraverted), immodest, outgoing, uninhibited, unreserved

Antonyms arrogant, bumptious, chesty, conceited, egotistic (or egotistical), fastuous, haughty, highfalutin (also hifalutin), high-and-mighty, high-handed, high-hat, hoity-toity, huffish, huffy, imperious, lordly, overweening, peremptory, pompous, presuming, presumptuous, pretentious, self-asserting, self-assertive, supercilious, superior, toplofty (also toploftical), uppish, uppity

 Where is your heart in this list? Do you find yourself  within the space of those antonym words?  It is eye opening isn't it? 

In first Timothy 6:10 we are warned that the love of money is the root of all evil. Take a look again at the list of near antonyms for meekness, do they not sound like the effects of a world obsessed with money and power for themselves?  Now the next little part is enlightening.  1 Timothy 6:11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 12: fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called...... 

In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 Paul speaks to the saints at Corinth. He talks about how the wise, mighty, and noble are not always the ones called to his work. Verses 27 tells us who is called; But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.

God has chosen those that would be defined as weak to confound the mighty. He has chosen the meek  But are the meek really all that weak?  

Who are the meek?

One of the popular definitions of meek is tame. Many living in this world would say that being tame is not a great quality to have (along with many of the other qualities of a meek person), but let us look deeper. Let us take a look at the Clydesdale horses they are big and very powerful creatures. They are wonderful horses that can do great work. But, if they are not tamed and trained well, they cannot be the good work horses they are known for. It is the same with us. If we are not tame in our ways, we are not truly God's.  If our hearts and souls do not belong to God, we are of no good use to him in his kingdom.

Meekness is actually a very powerful character trait that you would be wise to pursue once you understand what it really is. It has been a journey as I have worked to truly understand meekness as the Lord sees it.  I finally came to Wikepedia, it had a definition that made sense. It opened up my mind to what real meekness is.  Meekness is the opposite of the natural man who gives into every whim and desire of the body. A man or woman that is meek is strong because his or her desires are under well under control (tame) and therefore he or she is in control of the body and mind and has overcome many of the wiles of the devil. Meekness is the ability to control our thoughts, and actions. Meekness is a strong internal attitude towards pure goodness and a love that is often shows itself as gentleness on the outside.

Because it is hard to describe and it shows itself as gentleness on the outside meekness has been labeled and defined as something very different than what it really is. It has been said that meekness is one of the hardest words to define and to translate from one language to another. Through my studies I can see why that it so. Meekness comes very close to the heart of God. Once pursued, it changes our hearts to be more like his. This change of heart is something that cannot be explained very well.  Meekness is a trait that can only be developed  and truly understood by those who choose to truly follow Christ.

 Meekness is not valued at all in any form in our modern world, in fact it is just the opposite, those who would show meekness would be defined by the world as weak. It is too bad that the world would give us that silly list of words that are near to the word meek and tell us that meekness is truly a weakness of character. True meekness is a strong character strength, it in fact is not weak at all, a person who is truly meek has worked hard to align his or her heart to God. The meek person has overcome the Devil and is very highly prized in God's kingdom. To be meek is to find strength in God and his ways. This is where I want to be. This is where I strive to be.  


For your continued study on this topic I have included some links below that may be of insight and understanding

The fruit of the spirit: meekness

Meekness a dimension of true discipleship

meekness; God's cure

 

When life gets tough

The seemingly impossible call to "be ye therefore perfect"

The call to be perfect found in Matthew 5:48 has come to a boiling point for many. Thoughts of perfection and our lack of ability to do so has caused so much despair and hopelessness. It is overwhelming.  We live in a society that puts such stress and pressure on us to be perfect.  Just look around you, it comes at us from all directions. The idea of being perfect in everything has overwhelmed our homes, our schools, our churches, it is everywhere. The quest to be perfect in every possible aspect has nearly overtaken us. Combine the TV, magazines, and movies ideal of perfect with social media like Facebook, twitter, and Pinterst it has all come together in a  "perfect storm."  (no pun intended.) I recently wrote about The comparison trap that comes with social media. It seems so easy to overly compare ourselves, and pour fuel on this fire.

We are all feeling the effects. Parents are so overwhelmed by keeping up with the other parents and making sure that their children have the opportunity to be the most perfect of all the children. Our young people are becoming increasingly overwhelmed by the pressure on them to be that perfect child. Those in the teenage years are having trouble finding their way through this raging storm (as if teenage years weren't hard enough), I feel bad for them. Families are being ripped apart by this storm.

The trouble is an attitude is growing in ourselves and our children. We have been overburdened with the thoughts of perfection to a breaking point. Mention the words perfection or perfect, and it is like a swear word. You mention being perfect and some people want to throw you under a bus. People have become crazy in their pursuit of the unobtainable worldly perfection. A side effect of this crazy ride is that it is causing a shift in peoples perception.

Here are a few thoughts and quotes that I have seen floating about social media lately (This is just a sampling of things that I have seen and the attitude that is beginning to prevail)

1."Have no fear of perfection, you will never reach it"
2. "They say no one is perfect, then they say that practice makes perfect, I wish they would make up their minds"
3. "nobody is perfect, I am nobody so therefore I am perfect."
4."perfection is not what the heart is aiming for"
5.  "shooting for perfection is like shooting in the dark". 

These quotes and thoughts of "I can't be perfect" have lead to an attitude of "I am fine the way I am, I will find solace in being imperfect " 

6. "Imperfect is the next perfect"
7. "I am perfectly imperfect"
8. "Imperfection is really two words  I'm perfection"

Take a moment and think about the above quotes. How do they make you feel?  Do you see yourself in them? Do you find your attitude shifting? Satan is very sneaky. He has infiltrated to the very core. Do you see how he is keeping us from the Goal of being like Jesus?  The problem is that these attitudes and perceptions of perfect can overtake and distract us to the point that it keeps us from even being willing to try to become like our Savior Jesus Christ because perfect is just too overwhelming.  

It has been said that The pursuit of perfection often impedes improvement.

 If we are striving for worldly perfection that is very true. We often find ourselves so wrapped up in the pursuit of worldly perfection, and showing our perfection for the world to see.  We can find that we have been blinded as to perfection in the Saviors eyes. Perfection according to the world, and the Saviors perfection are different; yet somehow we let them become one and the same. Let me explain further.

An understanding and enlightenment comes when we begin to define the word perfect. To often we use the word perfect as an adjective; entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings.  The Lord is using the word perfect as a verb which has an entirely different meaning; to bring to completion; finish. to make fully skilled, to bring nearer to perfection.   


Perfection is an ideal that helps in removing, not demeaning imperfections. Tasneem Hameed

The Scripture "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" comes from the Sermon on the mount. In Matthew chapter 5  Jesus begins this beautiful sermon. The chapter ends with the command to be perfect. In the next chapter he continues on and he gives some advice about how to do this. The first thing he says in chapter 6, "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them; otherwise you will have no reward of your father in heaven." He was warning about becoming preoccupied with the world and their view of perfection. Being perfect in Christ is not about putting ourselves out there for everyone to see. It is NOT about being perfect on the outside, but perfect on the inside. God sees our inside, he sees what we are becoming we need to trust his work within our souls.

Often times the world can't see the inner beauty of someone who is growing and developing in Christ. I would like to compare this process to that of a growing apple. We are all growing and just as an apple, we begin by growing from a little bud to a blossom.  The blossoms are beautiful but they have not grown to be a fully developed fruit. It is a process for the blossom to change from flower to a full grown fruit. During the sermon on the mount Jesus was teaching the people this process. These people were  blossoms, he was teaching them how to grow to be full grown fruit. We are also in this process, many of us are just beginning to blossom.  He is changing us from a blossom to a full grown apple. This process is not appealing to the world.  Take a look below at this group of photos that chronicle the journey of an apple blossom to a fully ripe fruit.

                                             http://www.geochembio.com/IMG/apple-fruit-development.jpg


When we see ourselves changing from the blossom into the small and somewhat ugly fruits as seen in photos B, C, and D; we begin to wonder what is happening. We begin to doubt the hand of God, sometimes we believe that God is changing us into something strange and unsightly. We often lose understanding of where we are going and what is happening. We have to grow and change, we can't be a blossom forever. We are not meant to be a blossom, we are meant to be an apple. This is the process and it is an essential part of life. It is the only way for us to be like Christ and our Father in heaven.

We are called to be perfect, to be changed and become a new creature in Christ. It is a wonderful thing once you get past the world and its views on perfection. Can you feel it? Have you caught the vision yet?  Do you have a desire to grow into something more? Do you have a passion or even a small desire for Christ's perfection?  If you have the smallest desire for it, let it grow within you until it fills you.

Jesus continues on with the Sermon on the mount giving all kinds of advice and sharing with the people the skills, attributes, and virtues they should develop to be more like he and his Father.  If you have not read it lately I would suggest taking the time to read it.

Christ lays out to the people the path that they are to take from here on out. He gives them many skills and tools that they can use along the way. Over the next few weeks and months I will be exploring some of the skills, character traits, and virtues that God lays out for us in the scriptures. I will be writing about them along with practical advice for those who are willing to embark on this path.





Please come back and visit often. As always I welcome your comments, thoughts and advice. We can all learn from each other. 

The widow's oil

In Kings we read two different stories where widows were blessed by the prophets to "have enough and to spare." In 1 Kings chapter 17 we learn of the first widow. There was a great drought in the land and the widow was feeling the effects of it. She was out gathering a few sticks to build a small fire to prepare the last meal for herself and her son. She only had a handful of meal and a little oil. With this little bit of what she had left she was going to make a little cake for herself and her son, then they would wait to die. While on her journey she met up with the Prophet Elijah and told him of her plight. In 1 Kings 17 verse 13-14 we read Then Elijah said to her, "Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. 14 "For thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain on the face of the earth."  And so it was, the Prophet Elijah, the widow, and her son, all had enough to eat until the crops would grow again.

The second story comes from 2 Kings chapter 4. Another widow was in need of help. She was about to lose her home. The debtors were knocking at her door wanting to be paid. She had nothing to give to them. The prophet Elisha came to her rescue.  He asked what do you have? She replied that she only had a bit of oil.  It says in 2 Kings chapter 4 verse 3  "Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few."   He told her to gather up as many vessels as she could find. He then told her to pour out that oil amongst the empty vessels that she had gathered. To her surprise the oil was multiplied until it filled the empty vessels. He then told her to go and sell the oil to pay her debt. She was also blessed with a supply of oil when she needed it.

In both of these cases the Lord knew of the trials of these widows. He knew of their needs. He was watching over them and provided for them. The same goes for us today. The Lord knows each of us. He knows our trials. He knows what we are in need of. Often he sends us blessings in ways we cannot comprehend. He will fill our souls and bless us in our times of trial. He is very aware and will send help.

It is truly amazing how the Lord blesses us. Often I pray with a special blessing or favor in mind, yet what he gives me is a thousand times better than what I ever thought possible. He is always watching and will help us, but often he asks us to do things in the process. In the first story the widow was asked to take care of the temporal needs of  the prophet. She was given the means to be able to care for herself, her son, and the prophet. I  wonder what her morning prayer might have been like that day as she contemplated the ending of her life and that of her son. She was hopeless, and I am sure that she asked that the Lord would understand her decision. I would suppose that she prayed the that Lord would receive her soul and that of her son to heaven.  She was praying for peace of mind and soul, and yet what she got was so much more. I wonder what her prayers would have been like that evening and the days following as she had to opportunity to serve and to sit and learn at the feet of the prophet who had saved her life.

 

The second widow story has much to learn from it. Like the second widow woman when we come to the Lord or his servants asking  for help, often we are asked "what do you have/what can you give? "And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil."  She was then commanded to use what she had and it was multiplied.  She was asked to give all she had. Which she did, and she was blessed for it. How often are we asked to come before the Lord and give him all and trust in his goodness? And again, how often are we blessed that our small offering is made larger in Christ? Think in your own life about how the Lord has blessed you.

When we give to the Lord first and trust in him somehow it all works out and we are truly blessed in our time of need. There are countless stories of those who give of themselves and are blessed. There are so many stories of people struggling and yet they paid their tithes and offerings and the Lord blessed them to have the things they needed. Somehow the money goes further and seems to be multiplied once the tithing is paid in faith.

In Luke chapter 6, verse 38 Jesus Christ himself taught us "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again."  

Give to the Lord and his work and you will be blessed more abundantly than you could ever imagine possible. I know of this for a fact. He blesses me so much and often he asks me to give back and yet what I have to give seems so small. Somehow he takes what I give and makes it larger.

The Lord Jesus Christ needs people to assist in his work. From the strong to the weakest, he needs all of us and we need him. He will multiply your efforts more than a hundred-fold, and the joy that comes from serving; (if only you could feel what is in my heart) it is more than you ever dreamed of. I invite you to come and let the Lord heal you and bless you. If you are discouraged to the point of despair, come and let the Lords power be felt in your life. Ask, and you shall receive more then enough. I testify that it is true, I do not know how or why, but I know that it is. May the Lord ever bless us always.  

  

Is there a place for Christ in your life?

Jesus invites us in the scriptures to "come, follow me" We are invited to walk with Jesus and learn from him. We are invited to learn from his words as we walk daily with him.

Walking daily with Christ, what does that mean for you? Does it include prayer, devotion, scripture study and your time and attention? For far to many it means read a verse or two of scriptures, and make sure to check in with a prayer at the end of the day. It is something that we have put on our "to do list". It is something that is a part of our routine along with everything else in life. The trouble is that this is not quite what Jesus had in mind for us.

When our attitude is "I have said my prayer, I read in the scriptures today, I checked in with Jesus"  We are really missing out on what the Savior has to say. It too often looks something like this; Jesus is walking down the path with some of his disciples and everyday we jog by and say to him things like, "hey, I read about Daniel and the lions den today, good thing you saved him from those hungry lions."  The next day it is like, "Hey Jesus, today I read about Job, I am glad you gave him strength to keep going when things got rough. Speaking of thing getting rough, I got to get going on my way, it's going to be a busy, rough day today." This goes on every day, we are jogging by, checking in and telling Jesus what we did and what we read. Then one day, we come to a crossroad, Jesus and his disciples take a turn, We holler down the path at him, "Hey Jesus, today I read about your birth, such a great story" The next day we look down that path he went down and can't really see him but tell the person going down that path "Hey, when you see Jesus tell him......" 

Walking daily with Christ is more than just Checking in every day. It is more than just talking at him as we pass by him. It is taking the time to walk with him, talk with him, spend time observing and learning his ways. It is being on that path with him. It is being aware. It is being engaged with him. 

There is a big difference between making time for Christ in our lives, and taking time to let Christ into our lives.

This is illustrated in the Bible with the story of two sisters, Martha and Mary.
Luke 10:38-42  KJV

³⁸ Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.
⁴⁰ But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
⁴¹ And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
⁴² But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

In these short simple verses a great lesson is learned. Martha was busy, she thought she was serving the Lord well. She had great desires to serve him. She would sit and listen to him; just as soon as she got done with all the other things she had going on. She was working hard, she asked for help from her sister to get the work done so that she could make the time to squeeze in a short visit with Christ while he was there. Mary on the other hand, was taking time with Christ while he was there with them. See the difference? 


There is a song that is popular among many Christians. 

He Walks With Me (In The Garden)"

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The son of God discloses.

And he walks with me and he talks with me
And he tells me I am his own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known.

He speaks and the sound of his voice is so sweet
The birds hush their singing
And the melody that he gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

And he walks with me and he talks with me
And he tells me I am his own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known.

I'd stay in the garden with him
Though the night around me is falling
But He bids me go through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling...

 
In this beautiful song it talks about taking the time to go to the garden and be with Christ. This is what a disciple does. A true disciple of Christ does not schedule in time for Jesus. A true disciple takes the time and allows themselves to be taught at the feet of the master.

My prayer for each of you today is that you will take a moment to re-evaluate where you are in your discipleship walk with Christ. If you can only take a moment today with Christ, then do that; But put it into your sights to walk, talk, and tarry a while with Christ tomorrow, and the day after that and so on.  

Welcome

This blog is designed as a place of encouragement and devotion. It is a journal of my journey with Christ. There will be days of disappointment and grief as well as some of joy and triumph. I hope you will come and fill your soul often with the words and thoughts expressed here. I hope that it will open up your mind and soul to the joy that can abound in good works.