Magnificent Obsession

Lately, I've become obsessed with the sky.  Every time we go somewhere, whether it's a quick trip down to the store or to a near-by city or even another country, I find myself looking up.  I'm literally obsessed.


Think about it though.  The majesty of the sky, with its multitude of colors and the swirls of clouds.  Every sky is different and yet every sky is the same.  You can be in an entirely different country from me and we'll see vastly different pictures, but the same moon and stars will come out at night, the same sun will still rise and set each morning and evening.  The more I think about it and the more that I stop in the middle of what I'm doing to take yet another picture of the sky, the more in awe I become.


If you never thought about it before now, ponder this.  It is impossible to look at the sky, with all of its incredible detail, and not believe in the Creator.  He's the most accomplished artist there will ever be and what awes me even more than how beautiful His Creation can be is how full of splendor, majesty and power He proves Himself to be through the vastness of that which He created.  The sky is a perfect picture of that for me.  I love to look up at a perfect sunset or the fluffiest clouds I think I've ever seen and remember how amazing my God is.  I get overwhelmed sometimes at how awe-inspiring it can be.  I am moved to the very core of my soul thinking about how God displays His magnificence throughout all of His Creation, but especially the sky.


I think of this song by Steven Curtis Chapman every time the subject comes up.

"This is everything I want

This is everything I need

I want this to be my one consuming passion

Everything my heart desires

Lord, I want it all to be for you, Jesus

Be my magnificent obsession" 

May God reveal Himself to you more and more each day and may He become your magnificent obsession in everything you do and say.  Think about that this week - maybe these pictures can give you a small glimpse of what I'm talking about.

Training

As you know based on my last post, I've started a routine of being consistent in my working out and time with the Lord.  I was doing p90x for a while, but long story short, I've altered that plan quite a bit and the majority of this new plan is running and hopefully getting good enough to do a 5k or something in the near future.  That said, as I've gotten a few runs under my belt I've noticed a couple of things:

- I've gotten better in just a short amount of time (I assume I'll continue improving?)
- It's hard work!

The thing I tend to forget about training myself (mind, body, or spirit) is that it is real work to start in whatever condition you're in and push yourself to grow and improve individually.  I want it to just come easily and not have to do much to achieve improvement.  Obviously, with education being my profession, I have a first hand view of students who choose to work hard or not.  The ones who work hard are successful, the ones who do not are not successful.  Simple.  With my body, I can easily see in my own life how if I work hard I improve and if I don't then I very quickly become lazy and apathetic.

Hopefully you can tell where I'm headed - it's the same in our walk with Christ.  As a Christian, God doesn't tell us to just get 'fire insurance' and that's all we're required to do.  It's a lifestyle, it's a transformation, it's work to grow closer to God in our relationships with Him.  The awesome thing about it is that while the training of my mind or body can be a very individualized experience, the training of my spirit is something I'll never have to do alone because God is right there beside me giving me strength and lifting me up as I continue to grow closer to Him.

As crucial as all of that it - to realize that I need to work at this relationship - I think it's so vital to understand the importance of starting early in life.  Just like young children can learn languages so much easier than older people or young athletes have more time to improve their abilities than older athletes, young people are so important to Christ.  He even says in Mark 10:14-15:

"Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.  Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."

God has placed in the hands of Christian parents the remarkable ability to influence our children for the Lord.  We're even commanded to do so in Proverbs 22:6:

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."

A couple of weeks ago I went into Isabella's room to get her up for breakfast - a time I have begun to cherish more and more as she gets older - and she looked at me, smiled and pointed and simply said, "Bible."  It was the first time she had done that and I almost broke down right then and there.  It absolutely melts my heart and makes me smile the biggest smile ever to know that the first thing Isabella wants to do when she gets up - before eating or getting a new diaper, before running around or playing with her toys - is read a story out of her little Bible.

I know we're going to mess things up as time goes on.  I know we're not always going to get things right.  But there is one thing that I will die before getting wrong and that's the command of Proverbs 22:6.  If we as parents do nothing else with our lives, I'm praying that we raise our children up in the Lord because it's the best gift a parent can ever give to a child.

What Routine?

I absolutely love summer.  Being a teacher, this allows me ample time to do all the things I don't usually have time for during the school year - like read my ever growing list of books, fixing/cleaning things around the house, etc.  I have a problem though.  A problem to which I know the solution but find myself wavering back and forth to commit.  You see, during the school year my morning routine is down to a science.  Every minute of my morning is accounted for, every task has its time slot, and let me just be honest:  summer completely throws my routine out the window.


It's a blessing and a curse, really.  I have the freedom of knowing that I don't have anywhere to be or anything to do, no deadlines to meet, no lesson plans to write.  That part is great.  The part where I don't work out consistently, where I'm not consistently in the Word, where I sit down to write a new blog entry at 4:50 in the afternoon and I haven't even showered or gotten out of my pajamas yet - those are the parts that aren't so great.


Is it wrong to not have any real obligations for a period of time?  No, I don't think so.  Am I gloating in the fact that I have all summer off and don't have to go to work for two months?  No.  In fact, it's probably the worst thing possible for someone like me who is so routine oriented.


Reading in the L3 Journal the other day, Proverbs 5:23 stuck out like a sore thumb:

"He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray."

It may not be true for everyone, but for a person like me - lack of discipline really is death-like.  I don't die a physical death or even a spiritual death, but I certainly decline in my growth.  When I'm not consistently working out, I can definitely tell a difference in my physical abilities.  When I'm not meditating on God's Word and seeking His face daily, it opens me up for all sorts of temptations to lead me astray.  I think that's why Solomon in all his wisdom wrote this particular part of the Proverbs.  He knew that discipline was a vital part of every person's life, and it's most relevant to us as Christians.


I need the consistency of knowing that every day at a specific time I am going to open up God's Word and spend some time learning what He has to say to me for the day.  I need it. "As the deer pants for the water," so to speak.


I say all that to say this.  I'm making it a goal of mine for the rest of the summer to get up at the same time every day in order to:
- discipline my spirit through time spent with God,
- and discipline my body through working out.


I've got to.  It's vital for life.  It's especially vital for life in Christ.  That's my routine.
What's yours?