Just thinking…does the inescapable brevity of our dash necessitate a hurried lifestyle? Or does making our lives count have more to do with daily surrender to our ”Dash-giver’s” agenda–fast-paced or slow? It’s easy to feel the pull toward busy-ness, but perhaps the quality of our dash should not be measured by how much activity we pack into it.
3 responses so far ↓
JP // June 19, 2008 at 10:21 pm |
I have to fight against “busy-ness” all the time. But I’m reminded of how Jesus often took time out–away from the crowd–to rest, pray, or even to spend time with a few close friends. Though He was fully God and very much engaged in His purpose on earth, He was fully human as well, and serves as our great example of how to best live a life that counts.
Karis // September 7, 2008 at 12:45 pm |
I think that recognizing the shortness of my life has made embracing each second even more important. Living in happy memories or in hopes for the future wastes away your dash. Live every second! This power and truth and freedom and peace and suffering and loss are all part of an amazing reality that we can’t ignore. I just moved from a dirty Mexican border town to the grape vineyards of PA, and this time of yer everything smells like rich grape juice. Every time you inhale it is sweet and beautiful.( The difference in the smells here and there are so huge.) That is how our faith is… and how our dash is lived when we recognize the difference. You don’t want to miss one breath.
1DeadManWalking // November 11, 2008 at 11:52 am |
When you do look upon the face of God… you know your insignificance. But God has revealed Himself to us!We have been given everything we have not deserved, and escaped eternal punishment by grace, only because God gives to the needy. We are all needy, most importantly, in the area of salvation. God has met that need, as He meets others.
But do we meet the needs of others?We don’t normally choose to do this, yet we are encouraged and empowered by God to do so. We are even encouraged to “put on Christ.” We don’t normally meet the needs of others, because of our “self”ishness. That is why we are told to put on Chrst, if we let ourselves show to others, well let’s just say we will mess it up. But by letting the focus be to the Lord, that is what people will see.
We learn all the attributes of God… We are created in his likeness… and we are encouraged to be like Christ. Christ met needs, we are certainly to be like Jesus. How then can we not meet the needs of others. That can be as easy as saying an encouraging word to another, or as involved as making a meal for some family.
The important thing is when we get filled by the Lord, we need to give it away. It is freely given to us, what then shall do with it? Hoard it, go get more and keep it to ourselves? No, doing this will cause it to stagnate.
It is not ours anyway. Meet needs in secret! Be rewarded by your heavenly Father!
Needy people are everywhere, look in the mirror! Go! Meet someone’s need today as yours are met and they will be met!