Tonight I had dinner with my family; the first time since the big move four weeks ago. We talked, we laughed, we joked, we prayed...it was a typical the-four-of-us-together event. But this time, it had been four weeks since all of us had been in a house together at the same time. Before tonight, I was blissfully unaware of how much I missed living with my family...because well, Im 26 and why would I want to live with my parents and brother. If it hadn't been for my parents being so adament about getting together tonight, I would have just been "too busy." Well, it reminded me of why this fast from excess is going to be so important in my life. The idea of being so comfortable in my current situation that I miss out on the little things that make life so worth it, freaks me out. If I'm missing out on this little dinner thing, what else in life am I missing out on by being too comfortable?
I've always thought, as I'm sure you have, "wouldn't it be nice to go back to the time when things were easier and there was less responsibility". For some of you, it might be high school or college when all you had to do was go to class and study and maybe have a weekend job, or maybe it was before you were married with kids. For me, it's been the struggle of owning a business and thinking of how easy it would be to just have a regular job that I could leave behind those stresses at the end of the day and go home to your family and relax. I am CONSTANTLY thinking about work and what needs to be accomplished and what's gotten behind. I don't have the luxury of time some days, and it's my fault. My priorities are out of whack. When I don't have my priorities straight, I can't give 100% of myself to the people I care for, I can't give 100% to my business and my members there, and I end up retreating, so stressed out that I can hardly function.
I'm concentrating on too many things that I can't control, I'm over-valuing things that don't matter as much and I'm under-valuing things that matter the most to me.
See...priorities. Mine are completely out of whack.
God first. Family and friends second. My business third. These things, in the right priority, in the right perspective, will increase my "wealth" in life and decrease the stress.
God has a lot to clean up in me, and I'm ready to be molded and changed. God will supply all my needs according to HIS will, not mine.
Matthew 6:19-34
"Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Amen, Sister!
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