I was a bit behind so decided to post on two chapters at once.
I gleaned from Chapter 5 that ALL that happens to us is by grand design. God as the grand designer, in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28), is with us and using all circumstances to shape us ultimately for his purposes and glory.
I am reminded as well that apart from him we can do NOTHING. Our every breath is dependent on him.
In Chapter 6 I began to rethink my position that finding my purpose was a journey I had to make deep inside myself. I believe now that thought is incorrect. I cannot find answers within myself as I do not and cannot hold any answers. The only way to find and fulfill my reason for living is to look outside myself to the God who created me. I need to get my eyes off of myself and onto him. How many times are we reminded of that throughout the New Testament? Even Peter was able to walk on the water as long as he was looking at Christ. As soon as he looked down and took his eyes and focus off of Christ, he became concerned about the circumstances he was in and began to sink.
In this chapter, Sally touches on the power of exercising gratitude. I am a FIRM believer that keeping a gratitude journal refocuses our brain and our energies and changes us from the inside out. I admit I don't journal everyday now - but when I did - I was at a point in my life where change was necessary. This simple exercise reshaped my focus and my heart and I continue to use this exercise during difficult times even today.
I am grateful I have a short drive to work. Every day I see God's creation and see him in it. I LOVE my drive to work. It is a time of prayer and thanksgiving both. I really can't remember a time in my life when I didn't marvel at God's creation. I love the woods, open spaces, water. All of his creation is beautiful. Gee, perhaps I need to remember that when dealing with persons I don't feel are so beautiful. After all, he created them too...........
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Chapter 6
So in Chapter 6 Sally encourages us to become more childlike in our view of God. To approach our days with a sense of wonderment and amazement in all that God is and provides.
I totally agree with her encouragment. Not a day goes by that I am not grateful for the life I live and the people in it. But being grateful is not necessarily the same as being amazed or captivated. That is what she's meaning by being more childlike.
I can see that kind of emotion in my own child nearly every day. She marvels at something on a daily basis and typically she is confounded by the simple things like seeing our cats run around the house, watching Barney on TV or splashing around in the bathtub. She's enthralled by things I tend to take advantage of, if/when I even take the time to notice them.
What a wonderful world in which she lives. Always something to see, do, experience and enjoy with little to no intention on her part. Her world happens right before her eyes and she is a willing and able participant in anything that unfolds. She's carefree, curious and captivated by anything God throws at her. Except her friends at school. She bites them.
Anyway.
Chapter 6 really inspired me to take a look around at the beauty and splendor in my life. Take a seat and literally "people watch" all the happenings in my life and be amazed. Whether it be a beautiful sunset, a great meal, busy traffic or a sleeping baby - life provides many many moments to be awed.
Forget the grandiose stuff like the Grand Canyon, solar system and Vera Bradley handbags...everyone is amazed by those, of course. But its the little things, the seemingly mundane, run-of-the-mill, familiar experiences that happen everyday that we should be stunned by. Those are the things that God puts in front of us everyday to remind us we are real and so is He.
How lucky we are to be reminded on a daily basis of His existence, when we decide to look and be astonished.
"During a walk or in a book or in the middle of an embrace, suddenly I awake to a stark amazement at everything. The bare fact of existence paralyzes me... To be alive is so incredible that all I can do is to lie still and merely breathe--like an infant on its back in a cot. It is impossible to be interested in anything in particular while overhead the sun shines or underneath my feet grows a single blade of grass."
W.N.P. Barbellion
I totally agree with her encouragment. Not a day goes by that I am not grateful for the life I live and the people in it. But being grateful is not necessarily the same as being amazed or captivated. That is what she's meaning by being more childlike.
I can see that kind of emotion in my own child nearly every day. She marvels at something on a daily basis and typically she is confounded by the simple things like seeing our cats run around the house, watching Barney on TV or splashing around in the bathtub. She's enthralled by things I tend to take advantage of, if/when I even take the time to notice them.
What a wonderful world in which she lives. Always something to see, do, experience and enjoy with little to no intention on her part. Her world happens right before her eyes and she is a willing and able participant in anything that unfolds. She's carefree, curious and captivated by anything God throws at her. Except her friends at school. She bites them.
Anyway.
Chapter 6 really inspired me to take a look around at the beauty and splendor in my life. Take a seat and literally "people watch" all the happenings in my life and be amazed. Whether it be a beautiful sunset, a great meal, busy traffic or a sleeping baby - life provides many many moments to be awed.
Forget the grandiose stuff like the Grand Canyon, solar system and Vera Bradley handbags...everyone is amazed by those, of course. But its the little things, the seemingly mundane, run-of-the-mill, familiar experiences that happen everyday that we should be stunned by. Those are the things that God puts in front of us everyday to remind us we are real and so is He.
How lucky we are to be reminded on a daily basis of His existence, when we decide to look and be astonished.
"During a walk or in a book or in the middle of an embrace, suddenly I awake to a stark amazement at everything. The bare fact of existence paralyzes me... To be alive is so incredible that all I can do is to lie still and merely breathe--like an infant on its back in a cot. It is impossible to be interested in anything in particular while overhead the sun shines or underneath my feet grows a single blade of grass."
W.N.P. Barbellion
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