I'm Done!

I'm done! Finished! Whew! There were times I thought I'd never make it! But here I am this morning saying, "when can I start again?"

My pastor encouraged us (the congregation) to systematically read through the Bible in a year. We'd do it as a group!

Now don't get me wrong, I read every, well, most days. But I had no way of keeping track. Oh, and I've tried these reading plans before. Being a great procrastinator I always start out great, then have times of catching up, just to complete the task sometime after the "due date".

I signed up as soon as the list came out and picked up my check list. I must confess that I "jumped the gun". It was definitely a false start....but I didn't care I just kept going. I knew that if I let the momentum die I wouldn't finish. So every month I race the month to finish early. I figured that if I tried to finish early every month the worst that could happen is that I would finish on time.

It was awesome!

But more awesome than completing the test is the craving I have to read God's word and apply it to my life. It was there before, but then it would fade when other things came in and before long it was a day or two that I was hardly reading anything. This year was different though. I always read a "chunk" of scripture. Enough to keep me thinking and praying during the day.

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't remember everything that I read. But then again I don't remember all my meals this past year. All I know (and the scale confirms this! :) ) that I've been well fed this past year: physically and spiritually.

Go ahead! Take the challenge! Get some friends to do it together...and read through the Bible! It'll change your life!

I have fought a good fight, I have finished [my] course, I have kept the faith: (2 Timothy 4:7)

Decorating for Christmas

I was sitting here this morning thinking about where I would put my nativity set this year. It's been a long year and a long December so far. There are some traditions that are changing around my house and I don't think we like it very much. My kids are almost all grown up now. My youngest is busy with teenage responsibilities so our calendar is full of different concerns compared to when all three were little.

So sitting here this morning in my living room I was contemplating where Mary and Joseph and Jesus would sit this year in my house.
I don't have any decorations up yet. Oh, no! I do have my gifts done (well, almost) so that is a stress relief. It is miserably cold this week so the outside lights will probably not go up for a while either. Between church life and school my hours are full and I am content. I am content to decorate later, when I'm not so tired and not so full of responsibilities.

Until then, I had wanted to put up my nativity though. And this was the "Ah hah" moment this morning. I could put it up on my piano and just rearrange what I have there. What was I thinking?! I always make a special place for the nativity. It is a the central part of Christmas and I want to show that in my decorating...that's when it dawned on me. In all actuality the Good News brought to all men shouldn't be just crammed with all the rest of my "stuff" of my life, but neither should it be compartmentalized.

I do need to rearrange my life for the nativity like I need to rearrange my house to decorate for Christmas...but it shouldn't be for a season. It should be for a life time.

"And they came with great haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had see Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them conerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at thsoe things which were told them by the shepherds." Luke 2:16-18

I love lists....

I love lists! My pastor encouraged the people of my church to read the Bible in a year. I always start out well....then and finish sometime later...sometimes way later....ugh! I love reading the Bible and I am sure that I've read it through many times over the past 20 years, but I just didn't know for sure, so I took the challenge.

Now you have to know one more thing about me. I procrastinate. It is one of my many weaknesses. So one thing that I do to help me overcome this weakness is that I set my goal earlier than the assigned date. Good news! It has totally worked this time. I am right on schedule with my December reading. I only got bogged down in September and October (school had started, my older two kids left for Michigan....etc) but I was able to get back on track in November and now I am almost done.

I feel so good about completing (well, almost, but very soon!) this task.

I have many lists in my life, but there is one list that God is working on my to get rid of....it is the list of wrongs that a person has done against me. The Bible says that if I truly love I will not keep a record of wrongs. Wow.

I find myself doing that over and over again. I think that I have forgiven someone and then they do something that I feel hurt or threatened or angered by and my mind plays all the other "injustices" against me. The Bible says that if I truly love this will stop. It has to stop.

How does it stop though? My dear pastor said it eloquently today. He said, "faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of God." He said that for there to be any change I've got to get into God's word daily.

John the apostle wrote, "If we confess our sins, he (God) is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9)

Last night I confessed by sin of keeping a record of wrongs against one of my family members to God, then I confessed it to my family member. This is one list that I don't want to keep anymore with anyone.

Today I had an opportunity to use this record of wrongs again...but instead I chose to follow God's words of love and not do it. Instead I thought of an alternative idea to their request and it was beneficial to me, to my family member and to another friend.

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal....love thinks no evil." (I Corinthians 13:1, 5b)