And I really haven't felt like writing this week.
I've been staring at a blank white screen a lot.
This got me thinking.
What do I think about when my mind's a blank white screen?
And what do I wish I'd think about?
I admit that most days I think about how overwhelmed I am.
How I am tired and don't feel like doing a single thing.
How my house has so many issues, why even get up and bother making it better?
Especially this week. Did I mention that it's been a hard and weird week?
My default blank white screen is typically all about beating up Ashley.
Not good.
Not truthful.
I really don't want my blank white screen to be fairy-tales and roses, though.
I mean, life is hard.
My hard is hard. Your hard is hard.
Yes?
Regardless of where we are, what we're doing, there's a little bit of tough in it.
It's the world we live in.
I am not one of those people who can positive think my way through the day.
I have to acknowledge the hard.
Bring it to my God.
And choose to focus on the eternal blessings that are mine in Jesus.
Choose to remember that this hard is working for me.
And so, I hope one day my blank white screen will be ...
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (The Message)
Can I just pause for a second to get an amen?
Amen!
So, eons ago I went to college.
When I was in college I paid a fee to be able to use the gym.
So I did.
Twice a week I worked. that. elliptical.
{LOVE LOVE LOVE the elliptical.}
While I was panting and red-faced, I would review 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 in the NIV.
Therefore, we do not lose heart.
Though outwardly we are wasting away.
Yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen.
But on what is unseen.
Since what is seen is temporary.
But what is unseen is eternal.
One day I shared with my mentor my elliptical memory verse.
She said, "Oh girl, I would just give up if that were my work-out verse."
I get it.
Just focus on the eternal, and not our earthy, falling-apart bodies.
But to me, this verse says that every falling-apart moment is working for something greater.
Eternal glory.
Thus, it made sense to me to review it in my very obvious 22-year-old-falling-apart-body-moment.
So in the moments when my mind goes blank.
In the moments when I'm too tired to think, I want to remind myself, "not a day goes by without his unfolding grace."
Not a minute, actually.
All the minutes are working for something great.
The minutes when I lose control of my precious preschool class - when I have little ones wandering the house and interrupting their mamas. They count.
The minutes when my husband and I are unprepared for something big. Financially strapped. Failing to communicate. Again. They are working.
The minutes when John is up in the middle of the night whining for juice or Dinosaur Train. Even those minutes are grace working.
Therefore, we do not lose heart.
We never give up.
We keep swimming.Even if it looks like the dead man's float.
One time I overheard a wise woman in the faith say that her bread-and-butter teaching with her kids was Jesus's saying that we are to love others as we love ourselves.
Since I heard that, I wondered if I'd have a bread-and-butter teaching with my own sweet ones.
So far, with my one John, I tell him over and over daily that
We never give up.
We do not lose heart. How could we!
Unimaginable glory awaits us.
In spite of.
No, because of, our current troubles.
Who am I?
I am a daily renewed, eternal child of God with unimaginable glory prepared for me.
How could I give up?!?
Father, please transform my thinking. Give me this new blank white screen.
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