1:30am on a Tuesday is as good a time as any to start. It’s better late than never, and it’s definitely late.
This website was a birthday gift from my husband. It’s a place he made for me to write. The epitome of encouraging your spouse is a birthday gift like this.
Doubt, bad time management, procrastination and just plane laziness are all to blame for why this is such a long time coming. The tragedy is that these things are guilty of keeping us all from something that deserves more of our time, or at least some of it. I’m hoping with this entry alone that the surface to ending this (in my own life, when it comes to writing) is scratched.
The goal is not to better myself, or to try and better yours. There’s enough of that going around to last us all a (hopeless) lifetime of (never) achieving the highly placed (and over-inundated) bar our self-consumed world has set for us. I’ll leave that to the needy selfies, the inventive pins, the clever tweets, to the countless articles and blogs. Everyone and their mom has a blog (but seriously, my mom needs a blog). If there is any way possible to make this about something else, Lord help me try.
Before I go on, I don’t think the aforementioned things are evil. I think anything so consuming is dangerous. Whatever we give more attention to than God is idolatry. A balanced social media presence is possible, but we must keep ourselves in check.
If you know me, you know I’m a Christian. I’ve been one my whole life. If you know me well, you know I haven’t always acted like one. Need proof? Buckle up for some about me shock facts:
- I tried smoking weed at age 11 (But in my defense I was outside a mall and I had no idea what I was doing. Much like Clinton. Does that even count?)
- I lost my virginity before turning 16.
- I attempted suicide shortly after.
- I have a tattoo. It’s an island on my lower back. Most of the time I forget it’s there, but remembering it is regretful.
- I let my parents pay college tuition they couldn’t afford for a Christian school with moral standards I didn’t keep. The guilt of this one still stings.
This isn’t meant to be a confessional list of my deep dark sins. It’s meant to give an honest glimpse of from what I’ve been redeemed. Of why I’m so thankful. Why I love the Lord and why I trust Him. Why I follow Him and Him alone.
Why wouldn’t I devote myself to bringing glory to the only One who has saved me from so much? Saving me is just a tiny portion of His love and goodness. His love and goodness is infinite. He IS love and goodness, and without Him there is none.
I strongly believe God created every single human being who’s ever breathed with gifts unique to them. He knew who we’d each become, where we would be and go. He equipped us with personal tools through talents and experience to help us know what to do, to have something to do. To fulfill His purpose, to help us be fulfilled. Fulfilling His purpose IS the way to be fulfilled. To bring glory to His name, to tell those in our world what He’s done for us, for them. This is what our gifts are used best for. Natural ability wouldn’t exist without God. Shouldn’t we give the best of what’s in us to Him?
To bring glory to His name, to tell those in my world what He’s done for me, for you. This is the goal.
I’ve spent most of my life missing this. Too many of us are missing this. We are caught up and distracted by the world’s high set bar (be more creative, eat healthier, look better, be better). This is what’s getting the bulk of our devotion. Even for Christians, Jesus (if you are bold enough to use the name and risk offense) gets just a portion of it. Sunday mornings (if convenient), mealtime and bedtime prayers (if convenient), the occasional prayer meeting (if the need is desperate). Why does He who’s done everything for us get the least of us?
We are all bringing glory to something.
Our world has taught us to glorify self. And if not self, definitely not God. And if God, then definitely not the God of the Bible. Because He’s changed. He too now caters to whatever seems right to us. Truth is in our hands. It’s not about His holiness, it’s about our convenience. Our gratification. Our glory. The disorder in our world, in our churches, in our homes is due to the glorified SELF over the glory of the one true God. Separation from God is misery and hell. Many are choosing this daily while the world applauds and raises the bar higher and higher toward self distraction and destruction.
I haven’t always brought glory to the right things or to things that mattered at all. But the rest of my life I hope to glorify the Lord in any venue possible. The intention of this is to be one.
He has delivered me from much and replaced it with more goodness than I can fully wrap my mind around. The least I can do for Him is share it.
Lord help me try. Help me honor You.
This is the goal.
