Clean House

Cleaning for company.  What a joy!…what a nasty job.  It leaves you with a clean home, ready to welcome guests without wondering, “Will they notice the dust bunnies on the staircase?..”  But you cannot just do a “half” job for company!  Not for the in-laws who are staying with you!  You need a hands and knees scrub-brush kinda clean, not a sweep it under the rug quick fix.

Faithful.

Oh, what is there to say? 

My daily life is some combination of all of this:  I’m reading the Bible and Lewis.  I just started a new journal.  I’m praying more than I ever have.  I’m organizing everything BUT my house.  I’m emailing (and apparently blogging) at work.  I’m dreaming of flowers.  I’m loving my young(er) friends.  I’m fighting selfishness.  I’m excelling at Excel.  I’m smiling.  I’m calling new friends.  I’m taking a nap.  I’m learning when to keep my trap shut.  I’m taking it all in, and taking notes.  I’m offering to help.  I’m explaining the same thing for the third time.  I’m looking forward to lilacs.  I’m tearing up.  I’m listening to the same thing be explained for the third time, and finally getting it.  I’m…hmm…content.  And yet not satisfied.

End random brain dump. 

But you know what I take from all of that?  My God is faithful.  Whatever part of the day I am in, whatever situation arises, my God is faithful.  Constant.  He can be relied upon, at my workplace, and in my backyard.  Every situation involves him, whether I acknowledge his presence or not. 

So, if I am to become more like him, I need to remember to remain faithful, no matter what I’m doing.  Notice him in ordinary places, because, nothing really is “ordinary.”  What can be ordinary when the Creator of the Universe is in the room with you?

Faithful.  Thank-you, God, always taking note of me.

Quote of my day.

Reading Mere Christianity by CS Lewis.  I found a digital version of it, so it’s even work friendly.  It’s been about six years since I read it.  Now was definately the time to pick it back up again.  My friend Brooke and I are reading it at the same time so that we’ll have someone to discuss it with.  The great thought contained in writing (such as this) is much better mined working with someone else. 

Here’s what stood out to me today:

..If there does exist an absolute goodness it must hate most of what we do. That is the terrible fix we are in. If the universe is not governed by an absolute goodness, then all our efforts are in the long run hopeless. But if it is, then we are making ourselves enemies to that goodness every day, and are not in the least likely to do any better tomorrow, and so our case is hopeless again. We cannot do without it. and we cannot do with it. God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from. He is our only possible-ally, and we have made ourselves His enemies. Some people talk as if meeting the gaze of absolute goodness would be fun. They need to think again. They are still only playing with religion. Goodness is either the great safety or the great danger-according to the way you react to it.

Wow.  What an awesome God I serve.  I am so thankful I have found safety in Him.

Have you?  Do you want to?  What’s the quote of your day?

Right between the eyes…

The  most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs. There is not one of them  which will not  make  us  into devils if we  set it  up as an absolute guide.  -C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book One

Have you ever been prayerfully struggling with something, and no matter what book of the Bible or other study resource you happen to turn to, they all say the same thing?  Now, call me crazy…(CRAZY!)..but I don’t think its coincidence. 

And it’s comforting to me to be hit between the eyes over and over with this, because I know God hears me, and He’s trying to teach me something.  What relief, that he hears.

 

Every word of God is flawless; 
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.  Proverbs 30:5

Judges: Thoughts worth considering

Wow, April is over.  Crazy?!

During April, I, along with many others in my church, read the book of Judges.  It’s 21 chapters long, and a fairly fast read.  The stories are exciting, and can hold my attention as well as any sci-fi book out there.