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Tuesday, May 31, 2005

The Good I Ought to Do

I feel as if my first week of vacation has been successful in terms of doing the good I ought to do...

There is so much more that I want and need to do this summer, but this feels like a pretty good start.


# Mrs. F @ 2:37 PM 0 comments

Monday, May 23, 2005

Just Do Something

This is one of the chapter subheadings of the book I’m reading, Seizing Your Divine Moments by Erwin McManus. Have you ever noticed that Christians are all too often defined by what they don’t do rather than by what they do? Christians don’t get drunk, don’t use bad language, don’t have sex outside of marriage…Of course I’m not saying that Christians are free of sin—we are still in process, being transformed (sometimes slowly and painfully) into the image of Christ.

However, focusing excessively on the things we should not do prevents us from focusing on the other things that the Bible calls us to do. To name a few…

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your mind.” Matthew 22:37
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:39
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all I have
commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20

In fact James points out that failing to do what is right and good is just as bad as doing what we know is wrong:

“Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”

Erwin puts it this way:

“We have put so much emphasis on avoiding evil that we have become virtually blind to the endless opportunities for doing good. We have defined holiness by what we have separated ourselves from rather than what we give ourselves to. I am convinced that the great tragedy is not the sins we commit, but the life we fail to live.”

So...am I doing the good I ought to do?


# Mrs. F @ 11:21 AM 0 comments

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Time

School is out--an event which I believe teachers anticipate even more than students. But for some reason, this year I have a slight sense of anxiety along with my eagerness in regards to summer. For some reason, I feel a bit overwhelmed by the awesome responsibility of managing my time wisely this summer.

I am so used to my time being dictated by circumstances. During the school year, every spare moment is consumed by grading, planning, and preparing for my classes. When I lived in Alaska, my summers were structured by summer camps with my students and precious moments with friends and family back home. Last summer was an endless calendar of appointments and showers in preparation for the wedding. This summer I'm moving, which is a daunting task; however, I still feel that I suddenly have hours of free time that I simply have not had in a long time...

Why does this bother me? Perhaps it is because I turn 29 this year. I have heard it said that 29 is harder than 30. I think that is because 29 is an ending and 30 is a beginning. I am becoming more aware of the reality that we are only given a brief hour on this stage to make an impact on our audience--what is my impact? If I believe that our purpose as humans is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, am I doing that with the choices and actions in my life?

I just don't want to waste a single moment of this precious life that God has given me. I hear the whispers of Mr. Keating in Dead Poet’s Society: "Carpe Diem--Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary." And I hear Thoreau’s observations of men allowing their lives to be “frittered away by detail.”

How can I best use these precious hours that God has given me this summer?
# Mrs. F @ 2:31 PM 0 comments

Friday, May 13, 2005

5 More Days
# Mrs. F @ 10:04 AM 0 comments

Friday, May 06, 2005

10 More Days...
# Mrs. F @ 9:58 AM 0 comments

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