We are told that as Christian, we must glorify God in everything we think, say, and do. At times it can be hard to understand what that means or how to do it. We want things for ourselves. We want people to tell us how great they think we are. But, what is the point? What is the point of getting people’s appreciation? All we need is God’s appreciation and love. We are supposed to glorify God, not ourselves. We need to open our selves up to Him. He is our majestic, all-powerful, wonderful God.

Sometimes it can be hard to find a way to glorify Him when you are doing certain things. But there is always a way. You don’t even always have to look for it yourself. God can bring people to you. He wants us to glorify him by looking for ways to help His people. It’s like the Bible explains: If we encourage our neighbor, we encourage God. If we support our brother, we are supporting God. If we love our enemies just as we love our family, we are loving God. We can glorify Him just by being open to His guidance and love and power.

God’s glory is not something that we should just talk about or pay attention to whenever we feel like it. It’s not about us or about when we feel like doing just because. It is all about God and His glory. We should do everything we do in His name. We should boast about Him, not ourselves. We should praise Him, not ourselves. We should honor Him and everything He does, not ourselves and whatever it is that we do. Glorifying God in all we think, say, and do is so important, and not as hard as you might think. We must simply look for ways to do things that praise His name, honor His word, and glorify what He stands for.

GABRIELA

Luke 21:34

“So watch out for yourselves,” said Jesus, “that your hearts may not grow heavy with dissipation and drunkenness and the cares of this life…”

The cares of this life.

Every single experience of our day can serve either to distract us from God, or draw us to God.

Ultimately, I believe this choice is ours.

My wife and I have been attempting to teach our daughters that you can view every circumstance either as opportunity or obstacle, and that this is one of the heaviest influencers on your happiness.

This is simply one of those “Secrets of Life” that we sometimes, unfortunately, hear very late in life.

My spiritual partner Dave has always said that your circumstances do not determine your happiness, your thinking does.

This is tough to apprehend for most, and in reality, there are probably very few who live into this radical freedom. But I believe this to be at least one aspect of the “narrow road” Jesus taught us about. Enslavement to circumstances–anxiety over things not going the way we want–is one of the things Christ offers to free us from.

Every little care in this life can distract you from God’s presence and care, if you let it.

If you let it.

Every little care in this life can draw you closer to God, if you allow it.

If you surrender.

Jesus desires to be a conscious, acknowledged part of every aspect of our life. From the trivial and mundane, to the momentous and most stressful. Every single experience of our day can draw us to Him, teach us His ways, and make us effective and more alive. Every perceived obstacle can be turned into an opportunity in an instant simply by switching our lenses through which we are looking.

In every circumstance, we could, for example,  pray: “Lord, you are with me now. You are not stressed out, but are ready to care for me and guide me through this difficulty. I know You are infinitely good and want what is absolutely best for me. Amen.”

I think sometimes we are constantly asking God, if even subconsciously,

“Are You there and do You care?”

How we hear those two questions answered by God determines much of our life, our joy, our peace.

Everything that comes your way today–will it be a distraction or a drawing? What will you decide? Which will you choose?

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Bonus Material: While reading in the front yard on this glorious day today, I came across a sentence I just loved by this guy named Jack A. Thorpe who was an Air Force captain in the seventies:

There is nothing like getting yelled at to make you think harder, to really reflect.

This came after he pitched an idea that he really believed in and had worked quite extensively on to some higher-ups and was laughed at. Instead of sulking, being defeated, he used it as motivation to work harder, reflect, and learn from it.

FAMILY TIME

Today, instead of reflecting over one of my dad’s writings, I am going to write my own from scratch.

It is important to spend time with your family. If you go to work early in the morning, maybe get home early too, but then go out with friends until late, you do not have much time with your family.Why have a family if not to spend quality time with them? It is the same as being alone, if you never see them. This goes not just for your nuclear family, but also for grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews. We as people are created in the image of God. God made us to be friends with him and to love him and each other.  Put those together and,…well, ponder it for a moment. God made us to have families to love and share our hopes and dreams, our pains and misfortunes with.  You love your family, right? Of course you do,… well, you need to  show them. Go spend quality time with your family. You, as a person created in the image of God, go do what God had planned for us and families. Think about it: Why have a family if not to love each other and spend quality time together. I can guarantee that you will not be able to come up with any other reasons.

The working and going out with friends might not be the reason you’re  being distant from your family. Actually, I am thinking of a way that you may be a couple feet away, but yet, you still wouldn’t know when they got up from where they were sitting. Can you guess what I’m thinking of… PHONES. Phones can be so addictive. It can be so hard to not check an email or send that response text, but being on your phone is keeping you away from the people you love. It is hard to believe that phones used to be just to  call people; but isn’t that the only reason we invented phones? We needed a way to stay in touch with with our friends and family. If you’re on your phone during dinner, how are you staying in touch with the people you love and cherish the most? You simply cannot. Because  of this I want to challenge you to do something. I want to challenge you to pick a time in the evening to just put your phones away. The time could be from 7:00 to 8:30,maybe 6:00 to 8:00, or maybe even 7:00 to bedtime; whatever works best for your schedule. If you have kids, of course they would have to be older, they could even hide your phone for you so that if you were tempted, you would not even be able to look at your phone. I will encourage you to try this challenge in order to spend more time with your family. GOOD LUCK!

 

 

GABRIELA