an observance

i have been in a bit of a whirlwind of activity lately. but the last few days things have slowed down enough for me to realize there is this whole world out there (and it isn't focused on weddings).

there is an election and horrible natural disasters occurring all around me without my even noticing. people are busy and distraught about the economy. so i woke up a bit and took note.

and i decided that perhaps one of the hardest things for people to do is to move from the place where they are to the place of their beliefs. see - if you say you believe something but never actually act upon that belief - in your mind you are already there and you will never move towards that belief. if i say that i am confident that God has a wonderful plan for me and yet i run around worrying that it might be ruined by the cost of gas or a new leader in this tiny nation - then what do i really believe? and maybe it's not bad to think that a powerful president can thwart plans. maybe the problem is figuring out what i believe and then actually living it out. and maybe the trick is reminding ourselves of our beliefs.

i do believe that time is linear. there will be an end of all time. (i also happen to believe that it will be a dark and scary, gloriously wonderful day).

i do believe that people are in desparate need of great love. i believe the game plan is for us to love each other with a great love.

i do believe that power and money are more tempting and destructive than we will ever know.

i do believe that there is much that is out of my control - stuff i could worry about until i vomit. or i could live like i actually believe the stuff it's become so easy for me to say that i believe.

“We do not come to God in Prayer as if he had left us absolutely penniless, and we cried to him like starving prisoners begging through prison bars. We do not ask as if we had never received a single farthing of God before, and hardly thought we should obtain anything now; but on the contrary, having been already the recipients of immense favours, we come to a God who abounds in lovingkindness, who is willing to bestow good gifts upon us, and waits to be gracious to us. We do not come to the Lord as slaves to an unfeeling tyrant craving for a bone, but as children who draw nigh to a loving father, expecting to receive abundantly from his liberal hands. Thanksgiving is the right spirit in which to come before the God who daily loadeth us with benefits.” - Charles Spurgeon