The Desires of your Heart

When I first heard this phrase from Psalm 37, I wondered what my desires and passions are in my heart. I know what I would LOVE to do, I know what my dream job would be. I read books, blogs, Twitters and everything else under the sun about leadership and those who push/challenge those to live your dreams.... but how? How do you take where your at and become what you think you want. I read dozens and dozens of stories and the one common thread between them all is that God blessed them and something amazing happened. So what does it take to receive such blessing? I know it isn't anything I can do other than being faithful and prayer. But why does God make me/us wait. I keep hearing a song on the radio by Brandon Heath "Wait and See" and that seems to be the only thing that is keeping me going.

I love the church I work at, I'm so blessed to have a job in a church and get paid for it especially in this season of our country. So on one hand I can't be taking anything for granted and on the other when could I start DOING the passions of my heart without complaining and grumbling. Cynicism is my new enemy.

God, what do you want me to do with my life? Just wondering.....

Wanting the Curve balls of life

Earlier this month I read a book about chasing God. And in it, it talked about wanting to change the habits of which we put on ourselves. We get in to a good rythym of life and feel like everything is godd. Being human we like being on the mountain top and flying. However, no one likes to climb the mountain nor come down it. We would rather stay up there and the longer we stay up there we become more and more apathetic to life, I think.

Solution: Change the habitual routines we have to create a more sharper perspective of life. You see the more we get into a routine, the more life becomes dull. Where's the fun? Where's the excitement? Where's the childlike joy we once all had?

Reflect on the habits you have. For instance when do you read the Bible? Is it sporatic or always the same? Prayer- sporatic or consistantly at the same time of the day? Maybe even your drive to work? I am sure you have found the best way to get there but could you change that up? Sometimes it is the smallest things to keep us sharp.

My challenge to you is simply change up the routine of your life and wait and see the difference it makes.

Mission Statement failure

I was listening to a radio show this evening and they were discussing how different business' have their own mission statement. After some time goes by, does the business really keep to their mission statement or does it start to waver and make justifications for its actions? Does the business still have integrity and the virtues it started out to be or does it just have the statement on the wall for good show.

Likewise, when we first begin making commitments to God we more or less make a mission statement of what we want to do and what we want to accomplish and all the things we want to do for God. The real question is... are we still pursuing those commitments or are we just getting by?

I know being married it is easy to say, "till death do us part." but now being married for 41/2 years do I still uphold and cherish my wife, does she pursue God because of me or in spite of me. These are the things that were going through my mind when the DJ was talking about all this.

So what are some commitments that you made to God (even your New Years resolution) that you may have forgotten about or didn't really follow through with? Thankfully and gracefully God pursues us with his love and mercy and grace even when we forget about him let alone go after him. However, it doesn't give us the excuse to stop trying to follow through the commitments it just means we get an extended grace period by our Father in Heaven.

The Power of a Moment

As we look around in our life, we always are in full view of many powerful moments. Some moments come and go, others change our lives forever, but each day we are given the opportunity to observe the present; which in a supersonic second becomes the past, but in that nanosecond between the present becoming the past lies a moment. Again, it happens to us of every second of every day. The beauty of a moment is that it can be a large or small chunk of time depending how we view it.

I often times become very nastalgic (especially this time of year) and I am starting to enjoy sitting back and observing people in their element and watching people enjoy the moment that they are in. I can't help but watch my daughter just play and all I can do is just step back and smile, I watch in amazement as she is just loving this life. There are even moments where I take a few seconds to look out my front door and listen, just simply listen. 

If we continue to think about the past that is where we will live. Don't misunderstand me, we certainly can reflect on the past and learn the lessons given but not to dwell. However, if we just soak in the present we ironically NEVER miss the moment at hand. Sure life seems to zip on by, but when you focus on the moment that you're in time slows down and you can enjoy where you're at now, not where you wish you could be or what you could relive.  

So enjoy the moment, embrace the memory, and smile for the next moment is about to approach. 

Psalm 46:10 (Amplified Version)

Let be and be still, and know (recognize and understand) that I am God.

(I think this is how God planned it all along)          :)