Isn’t it interesting when you’re reading the Bible and you see something you haven’t noticed before?
That happened to me yesterday as I was reading Proverbs 31. Believe me, this is not the first time I’ve read this particular chapter – the one that most people look to to describe an ideal wife.
My first thought was “Isn’t that funny?! The chapter that we often use to describe an ideal wife and it was taught to him by his mother!” But then I reflected a little longer – in many cases a mother might be the best equipped to teach her sons how to look for a good wife.
Now I could certainly take this very short text and make it into “children honor your parents.” I could point out how we accept disobedience as being “strong willed” and how marketing to teens tries to separate them from the influence of their parents so that they’ll make bad decisions. I might even be right to do that. But today I’d like to go a different direction. » Read more: Are There Treasures in Your Baggage?
I don’t do a great job of maintaining relationships. I can talk a good game but in the end I do a much better job of maintaining distractions than I do in actually sharing my life with people. In fact, if I don’t see you on a regular basis there’s a good chance I won’t really do a good job of keeping up with you.
Most of my relationships are geographic
I seem to do the best job of maintaining relationships with those I see regularly. This works well with my wife, my colleagues at work, and my fellow parishioners. But it doesn’t work nearly as well with people who aren’t in my regular weekly routine. Because of that, I tend to focus on my relationships in this order:
God
My amazing wife
Friends and colleagues I see regularly
My parents
Everybody else
The problem with that is that far too many of my very close friends are ending up in the “Everybody else” category.
This is to my detriment because I’ve done a very poor job of keeping up with some close friends of mine. Those where we used to interact regularly but aren’t in my weekly circle any more. Some of them have been friends for years and have poured wisdom, spiritual insight, and love into my life. In fact one was the closest of my friends for several years and lives only a few miles away, yet we now have trouble even scheduling time to hang out. But it gets worse.
I suspect we’d be hard pressed to find more than a handful of people in the US who don’t have too much to do. We all have responsibilities, goals, and aspirations. We all have relationships we want to maintain. We all have “time vampires” (some might call them addictions) that suck the time out of our schedules. And there are always unexpected events or difficulties.
I know that I certainly fall into the category of “those who have too much to do.” You probably do as well. So I’m constantly trying to make sure that I’m putting time into those things that are the most important to me. Well, really, it starts before that.
I want to make sure that I’m investing my time and energy into what is important to God. After all, deep down, God is what is most important to me. Thank God (no pun intended) that he has let us know what is most important. » Read more: There’s Too Much to Do
January 18th, 2010 by Bryan Entzminger
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I just have a short post for you today.
God is looking for worshipers who will worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:25). Imagine the kind of life you would live if you truly worshiped God whole-heartedly (and with your whole life), passionately engaged in the truth and grace of God, pursuing the enjoyment of his glory! Imagine the joy you would have in God.
I can scarcely imagine what my life would look like if I truly lived my faith. If I truly pursued the knowledge of God. If my heart were always engaged.
I’m running a little late this week. I’d planned to post this Thursday Thought yesterday but it just didn’t happen. OK – it could have happened but I didn’t do it.
What motivates you?
I’ve been thinking lately about motivation. I’ve been wondering why I do what I do and why I don’t do the rest. For some things, there is an obvious reason – I was unable, I made a decision about priority, and so on. But even that doesn’t get me to the root.
I’ve been wondering about the subconscious spiritual, emotional, and relational reasons why I do what I do. As I see it, there are likely three reasons why I do what I do. If you have more suggestions, I welcome your input.» Read more: What’s Your Motivation: Inspiration or Fear?
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