So, it's been almost a month again since I've blogged. :P Sorry, y'all! My summer has been slightly wild and crazy. Now that it's settling down into a somewhat calmer routine, I'll try to get back into the habit of blogging. I miss it, really...I've logged on to blog several times and then just never actually got it done.
Y'all probably think I'm going to talk about Chicago (finally). Well...not yet. I've got something else on my mind tonight. :) I'll try to get around to a Chicago post sometime this week though, OK? (hey! It's my blog and I can procrastinate if I want to! :) ) No, I'm thinking of chisels, seasons, and focus...
Chisels. Actually, I've really just been thinking of one chisel--God's chisel. I've been reading in Deuteronomy lately in my quiet time, and there's a common theme in the verses that are jumping out at me. Things like finding joy in sacrifice (Deuteronomy 12:5-7); putting to death those things in my life that would keep me back from following the Lord (Deuteronomy 13:4-5); being set apart and called to be different, God's peculiar treasure (Deuteronomy 14:1-2); and allowing God to "circumcise" my heart, cutting away everything is not of Him (Deuteronomy 30:6). I've come to realize more than ever that to truly function as a child of God, to live as His special treasure, there are things in my life that must die. Some of them may be bad attitudes or motives or habits that I've had; others are not bad in and of themselves, but are distractions. Anyway, as I've been seeing this common theme and coming to grips with this concept, I saw this video:
And...it still makes me cry. Every time I watch it. It sums up so perfectly what God is doing in me right now. He is chiseling away everything that is me until all that is left is Him. Until He reveals the original masterpiece that He sees in me.
(BTW, let me put in a quick plug for the Skit Guys, Eddie and Tommy, who did the above video. Check 'em out on YouTube or at http://www.skitguys.com/, they have a lot of great skits and such!)
Seasons. They're inevitable. Life is made up of seasons. Summer turns to fall, to winter, to spring, to summer...seasons of rest give way to busyness, to waiting-ness, to whatever-God-has-next-ness. The changing seasons of life is something that has come up many times in the course of my life. At one point, I wrote a poem about the different seasons and how if any one of them were left out, I wouldn't be who I am; I couldn't become who God has called me to be. I wrote in a journal at the time that I wrote the poem,
In church yesterday, Pastor Joe was talking about seasons and he said that each season prepares us in some way for the next season. We have to learn to learn from each season in order to be prepared for the next. It can be so easy to get into some sort of "coasting" mode, just making it through each season without thinking of what comes next.
This particular "season" of life I'm in right now, it's a little easier to think ahead to the next. We moved to Springtown and have gotten involved at Real Family Fellowship knowing it was temporary. Knowing that we would be leaving in a short while. It's affected what I've done and how I've done it; it has motivated me to listen, to learn, to participate in things I might not have participated in and perhaps to not partcipate in some things that I would have particpated in had we been here for more of an indefinite time. But I need to learn to look at life that way. To evaluate everything I do in light of eternity; to glean from each moment all that God has for me.
Focus. This is the big one, the one that ties all of this together. Because I'm in a season where my focus is being chiseled. As God is chipping away at the "me" parts of my life, the greatest thing He's chiseling right now is my focus. What am I gazing at, striving for, setting my heart on? See, He wants to be my all. He wants to be the one and only thing that captures my heart and eyes. So slowly, He's chipping away the other things that I would focus on.
"How great is our God; sing with me, how great is our God!
And all will see how great, how great, is our God!"
Everytime I sing that song I pray, "God, may others see Your greatness in me!" But yesterday something new struck me: it is when I am focused on His greatness, when I am completely caught up and enraptured in all that He is, that others will see that greatness in me. As my focus becomes only Him, everything else that is my heart's cry for my life will fall into place. He will lead me in the way He wants me to go; His greatness will shine in my life; my desires will become His desires, and He will fulfill them. What could be greater than that?
Y'all probably think I'm going to talk about Chicago (finally). Well...not yet. I've got something else on my mind tonight. :) I'll try to get around to a Chicago post sometime this week though, OK? (hey! It's my blog and I can procrastinate if I want to! :) ) No, I'm thinking of chisels, seasons, and focus...
Chisels. Actually, I've really just been thinking of one chisel--God's chisel. I've been reading in Deuteronomy lately in my quiet time, and there's a common theme in the verses that are jumping out at me. Things like finding joy in sacrifice (Deuteronomy 12:5-7); putting to death those things in my life that would keep me back from following the Lord (Deuteronomy 13:4-5); being set apart and called to be different, God's peculiar treasure (Deuteronomy 14:1-2); and allowing God to "circumcise" my heart, cutting away everything is not of Him (Deuteronomy 30:6). I've come to realize more than ever that to truly function as a child of God, to live as His special treasure, there are things in my life that must die. Some of them may be bad attitudes or motives or habits that I've had; others are not bad in and of themselves, but are distractions. Anyway, as I've been seeing this common theme and coming to grips with this concept, I saw this video:
And...it still makes me cry. Every time I watch it. It sums up so perfectly what God is doing in me right now. He is chiseling away everything that is me until all that is left is Him. Until He reveals the original masterpiece that He sees in me.
(BTW, let me put in a quick plug for the Skit Guys, Eddie and Tommy, who did the above video. Check 'em out on YouTube or at http://www.skitguys.com/, they have a lot of great skits and such!)
Seasons. They're inevitable. Life is made up of seasons. Summer turns to fall, to winter, to spring, to summer...seasons of rest give way to busyness, to waiting-ness, to whatever-God-has-next-ness. The changing seasons of life is something that has come up many times in the course of my life. At one point, I wrote a poem about the different seasons and how if any one of them were left out, I wouldn't be who I am; I couldn't become who God has called me to be. I wrote in a journal at the time that I wrote the poem,
"Not only are changing seasons inevitable, they are to be embraced. Who would I be without the changes that brought me here? And what hope would I have for the future if the seasons never turned?"But it seems like each time the seasons change in my life, I learn something new about seasons themselves.
In church yesterday, Pastor Joe was talking about seasons and he said that each season prepares us in some way for the next season. We have to learn to learn from each season in order to be prepared for the next. It can be so easy to get into some sort of "coasting" mode, just making it through each season without thinking of what comes next.
This particular "season" of life I'm in right now, it's a little easier to think ahead to the next. We moved to Springtown and have gotten involved at Real Family Fellowship knowing it was temporary. Knowing that we would be leaving in a short while. It's affected what I've done and how I've done it; it has motivated me to listen, to learn, to participate in things I might not have participated in and perhaps to not partcipate in some things that I would have particpated in had we been here for more of an indefinite time. But I need to learn to look at life that way. To evaluate everything I do in light of eternity; to glean from each moment all that God has for me.
Focus. This is the big one, the one that ties all of this together. Because I'm in a season where my focus is being chiseled. As God is chipping away at the "me" parts of my life, the greatest thing He's chiseling right now is my focus. What am I gazing at, striving for, setting my heart on? See, He wants to be my all. He wants to be the one and only thing that captures my heart and eyes. So slowly, He's chipping away the other things that I would focus on.
Yesterday we were singing "How Great is Our God" in church. The chorus says,Eventually, He will be all I see.
"How great is our God; sing with me, how great is our God!
And all will see how great, how great, is our God!"
Everytime I sing that song I pray, "God, may others see Your greatness in me!" But yesterday something new struck me: it is when I am focused on His greatness, when I am completely caught up and enraptured in all that He is, that others will see that greatness in me. As my focus becomes only Him, everything else that is my heart's cry for my life will fall into place. He will lead me in the way He wants me to go; His greatness will shine in my life; my desires will become His desires, and He will fulfill them. What could be greater than that?
Comments
Thank you so much for sharing it with us! *HUGS*
Much love,
Meagan Feeny :-)