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Daily Post

Pity Parties

Man, have you ever had those days where you just want to complain and grip and spend the day saying “whoa is me…”?

I think I started the day that way today.  I even told Amy as she left for the day, “My day is gonna suck!”.  (yes, I know one of the S words, right behind ‘shut up’ and “stupid” that I should not be using”).   But really, do you ever feel that way.

I left for my run, with that attitude, returned with that attitude and then sat at this keyboard for 25 minutes with that attitude.  Stewing.  However, something deep down inside kept telling me, no, that’s not the way it is.

The fact is that it’s easy for us to let the world force us to think about ourselves and our supposed problems and to crowd out what is good around us.  I think I have been writing about this a little too much over the last few weeks.  But its not just because I struggle here, its because I know from other conversations that we all do.

I canceled the pity party this morning, washing it down the drown with the shower water.  It’s no way to approach the day.  It’s no way to impact others. Why does that verse in Philippians keep haunting me?

3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Philippians 2:3-4

Lets be humble, and more concerned about others then our own simple lives.  No Self-Pity Parties today!

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Daily Post

Hearitly Ahead

Yep!  It’s Monday again, and here comes the monotony of the “work-a-day” world full force towards us.  It’s so easy to want to pull up the covers and stay were you are.

So it seems like one of those days that we need to turn to the the expert in futility – the write of Ecclesiastes.  It is well know that this dude, King Solomon, realized the vanity and futility that sits right int the face of men.  However, he didn’t give up, nor give him.  For he make this declaration:

10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave,  where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. Ecclesiastes 9:10 (New International Version)

Well, that’s a little morbid, but its real.  We get one chance at this little game of life.   I think the Message is even more plain on this topic:

7-10 Seize life! Eat bread with gusto,
Drink wine with a robust heart.
Oh yes—God takes pleasure in your pleasure!
Dress festively every morning.
Don’t skimp on colors and scarves.
Relish life with the spouse you love
Each and every day of your precarious life.
Each day is God’s gift. It’s all you get in exchange
For the hard work of staying alive.
Make the most of each one!
Whatever turns up, grab it and do it. And heartily!
This is your last and only chance at it,
For there’s neither work to do nor thoughts to think
In the company of the dead, where you’re most certainly headed. (Ecclesiastes 9:10, The Message)

So here’s the deal, yep, Monday stinks.  But we only get so many of them.  Lets make ’em count!  Get out there with all your might and impact the world around you!

Do it up!

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Daily Post

Continue To Make It Known

Hey, I think this is the 2ooth daily post today.  That’s pretty incredible!  I hope you are still finding as much encouragement reading this, as I am writing it.  Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts and encouraging words back to me!

To get this week started off correctly maybe we should remember that our Savior and leader, the Son of God, Jesus Christ prayed for us before he left this world.  And he didn’t just say I’ll pray for you, or “Lord, remember them”.  He was very explicit in his words and they show his love for us and the desire of this hearts for us.

20-23I’m praying not only for them
But also for those who will believe in me
Because of them and their witness about me.
The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind
Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
So they might be one heart and mind with us.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
The same glory you gave me, I gave them,
So they’ll be as unified and together as we are—
I in them and you in me.
Then they’ll be mature in this oneness,
And give the godless world evidence
That you’ve sent me and loved them
In the same way you’ve loved me.
(John 17, MSG)

And what is so cool is that earlier in the prayer as he is prayer for his disciples,  he added this:

Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life…

and this

I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing
So my people can experience
My joy completed in them.

and this

I’m not asking that you take them out of the world
But that you guard them from the Evil One.
They are no more defined by the world
Than I am defined by the world.
Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth;

Wow,   What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31 (New International Version)) Live boldly for him today, and let others experience the love that you have experienced.