Caring For My Soul

A new year always spurs people on to make resolutions. I haven't made a new year's resolution in a couple of years because they never last the whole year. And besides, if I feel like if I need to make a change - why wait until a new year - why not just change now?

Jake and I are going to read the Bible in chronological order this year. My Dad did this last year and passed on the reading guide to us. If you are interested in it, click here. I think it will be neat to read the events of the Bible as they occurred chronologically. So far, it's January 4th and we haven't missed a day! haha! Let's keep it up...

Last year in Omaha around New Years I heard a lot of people choosing a word and that was the word that they would live by for the year. I think this is a neat idea because you can focus on one area of your life and be intentional. In fact, "intentional" would probably be a great word to live by for a year! If I had to pick a word for this year, I think I would pick simplicity. When we hear this word, we mostly think of living with less material stuff. That is true, but I have a broader meaning of the word referring to a life that is free of clutter and focused on the Lord because if you want to care for your soul, you need to simplify your life.

Luke 8 - The Parable of the Sower - is a great scriptural reference for this...starting at verse 4:

⁴ While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: ⁵ “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. ⁶ Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
 .....
¹¹ “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. ¹² Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³ Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. ¹⁴ The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. ¹⁵ But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

[The seed is the Word of God

The soil is the human heart]

Here is my personal explanation in table format because I absolutely love excel...

It's so easy for me to clutter my life and I don't even realize I'm doing it until my relationship with the Lord is suffocating. Things that I am going to focus on this year through simplicity: Having an eternal perspective, being a prayerful person, stewardship, generosity, self control, and finding pleasure in things God desires.

And a great verse to remember this year:

But the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Mark 4:19

Where is Your Treasure?

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

-Matthew 6:21

As I dig deeper into God's word, I can't help but do some self-examination because I want my life, my thoughts, my actions, my words and everything else to be pleasing to God. So many times I fall short because there are numerous things in life that are vying for my attention and pull me away from God. We have to constantly ask ourselves:

Where is my heart?

Do I have an eternal perspective or am I investing in the here and now?

Proverbs 4:23 tells us that a person's life is a reflection of his heart ("Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life"). This word picture is clear: the heart is a well from which all of life's issues flood from. Be real with yourself and with God and truly examine your heart. As believers, we should carefully inspect what we let in and out of our hearts and pay attention to and apply God's word in our lives so that we will keep our hearts with all diligence.

You might be asking yourself why I am writing about this topic. Well, after spending some quality time with the Lord (read Matthew 6:19-24) and doing some self examination, I have realized that I all too often have this mindset:

'If I only I had that, then I would be set'.

Security and satisfaction cannot be found in temporary things. 

Thank you, Lord for allowing me to be transparent and real. Thank you for continuing to pursue me...even though I get distracted by earthly things. Thank you for the greatest treasure of all: through Jesus we can enter eternity fully pardoned from sin. Give me strength, Lord as I follow hard after you...

I took this picture the other day while pulling weeds in the yard...who would have thought a weed would look so pretty!

Wisdom

"...God's wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes. You don't find it lying around on the surface. It's not the latest message, but more like the oldest—what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived on the scene. The experts of our day haven't a clue about what this eternal plan is. If they had, they wouldn't have killed the Master of the God-designed life on a cross. That's why we have this Scripture text:

   No one's ever seen or heard anything like this,
   Never so much as imagined anything quite like it—
   What God has arranged for those who love him.
But you've seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has

brought it all out into the open before you.

 The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you're thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he's thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don't have to rely on the world's guesses and opinions. We didn't learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus..."

-The Message, 1 Corinthians 2:6-13