Over the last 6 or 7 months I have found that my circle of friends has expanded like whoa. That means a lot. And I found myself thinking quite often, "What are these people in my life for? What are they here to show me? To teach me? What am I supposed to be learning from them, about myself or the world around me?" Then, it struck me this morning how absolutely self-centered my thinking has been. These people might not be in my life for me. I might be in their life to show them something. Maybe they aren't here to help and grow me, maybe I was put in their path to help and grow them. Then I became sad and started thinking about how many opportunities I may have missed to invest in others just because I was so wrapped up in what they were possibly doing for me.
How radically different would the world be if we stopped thinking about only ourselves?
The kingdom wasn't created for us, we were created for the kingdom.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Truth
This morning, after checking Facebook (you know it's the first thing you do too), I began checking my email. I'll admit to being one of those people who doesn't delete anything. Yep...one of those people. Waiting for me among the weeks of unopened mail was a post from one of my favorite blogs, SingleRoots. The title indicated that it was about loneliness. Admittedly, I rolled my eyes. Because, really? Another blogpost about loneliness and singledom? Ignoring the hipster in my heart telling me that it was so cliche and I should move on, I read it anyway. And it pointed me to the truth.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8
God is trying to drive a point home in my life. So often I think we can easily fall in to believing the lies that The Enemy whispers to us. At those times, it is so important to stop and give yourself a mental slap in the face. Check yo' self, befo' you wreck yo'self, if you will. As Paul urges the church at Philippi (pretty sure I butchered that one), whatever is true, we should remind ourselves and meditate on. Now, I'm not just talking about the absolute truth of scripture, and God's love. I'm also talking about the truth in the many situations we face daily. The little things that we can so often allow to unnecessarily get under our skin and mess with our heads and hearts (which we also need to guard) also need a dose of truth. Things aren't always what we are led to believe.
I don't know about you, but I constantly have to check myself and I am so thankful that God revealed His truth to me today.
Take that, inner hipster.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8
God is trying to drive a point home in my life. So often I think we can easily fall in to believing the lies that The Enemy whispers to us. At those times, it is so important to stop and give yourself a mental slap in the face. Check yo' self, befo' you wreck yo'self, if you will. As Paul urges the church at Philippi (pretty sure I butchered that one), whatever is true, we should remind ourselves and meditate on. Now, I'm not just talking about the absolute truth of scripture, and God's love. I'm also talking about the truth in the many situations we face daily. The little things that we can so often allow to unnecessarily get under our skin and mess with our heads and hearts (which we also need to guard) also need a dose of truth. Things aren't always what we are led to believe.
I don't know about you, but I constantly have to check myself and I am so thankful that God revealed His truth to me today.
Take that, inner hipster.
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