God vs. god

He who makes little of God makes much of himself, They who forget adoration fall into adulation. The eyes must see something, and if they admire not God, they will flatter self.

Charles Spurgeon wrote these words in his book, Treasury of David, I know they are true because they come straight from Scripture (Psalm 36:1-2) and because they often play themselves out in my life. As soon as I take my eyes off God, I put them on me. Whether I am bemoaning circumstances, relationships, or whatever, it becomes all about me - my way, my hurts, my comfort, my pleasure, my, my, my! Me, me, me!! What a pathetic god I make!

Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. Psalm 36:5-9

Heavenly Father, continue doing your refining work in my life. Even though it's often painful, who I am without it is unbearable! Both to myself and to those who know me!

A New Year's Plea: Plan!

A New Year's Plea: Plan!

Fail to Plan = Plan to Fail

It has dawned on me today that a Sunday well invested is key to a fruitful, well-invested week. As John Piper says, "Sunday is the first day of the week, not the last day of the weekend!" And fruitful weeks lead to months, lead to years, lead to a lifetime. And I long to get out of the "busy" rut and truly be fruitful! Life is going by very quickly!

Another thing I've realized recently - for years I've been so busy that the demands on me have served to be my disciplinarian; and anything that was left undone? Well, I had the excuse that I'm so busy - something has to give. That has changed, and at least for right now, I find myself with a much less demanding life. The trouble is that without my crazy, busy life dictating my time, I find myself prone to waste it. I'm finding out that I'm not nearly as disciplined as I thought I was! This is showing itself in many areas of my life - I won't list them here.

This is the first day of a new week, a new month and a new year!  I love new starts!! I am asking my Teacher to help me to remember my Sabbath Day and keep it holy. I want to plan my week well, which does not just mean plan the things I need to DO. I want to plan the things I need to BE. That will go a long way towards success in the process of "working out my own salvation with fear and trembling."

Here's my first plan, the ancient art of lectio divina, or sacred reading. This is adapted from Conformed to His Image by Kenneth Boa, but was introduced to the West by the Eastern desert father John Cassian early in the fifth century.

It consists of four elements:

1. Lectio (reading). Select a very short text and ingest it by reading it several times.

2. Meditatio (meditation). Take a few minutes to reflect on the words and phrases in the text you have read. Ponder the passage by asking questions and using your imagination.

3. Oratio (prayer). Having internalized the passage, offer it back to God in the form of personalized prayer.

4. Contemplatio (contemplation). For me, this will be the most difficult part, since it consists of silence and yieldedness in the presence of God. Comtemplation is the fruit of the dialogue of the first three elements; it is the communion that is born out of our reception of divine truth in our minds and hearts.

This is a simple, gracious plan. I will also need my Teacher's help to keep me from making it complicated and legalistic!

Here's to a Joshua 1:8 kind of successful year!