So did you hear? I was abducted by aliens. Someone stole my hard drives and locked them in a closet. A flood washed my blogs away. I lost 7 fingers when I was out hiking and my hand was crushed by a giant rock. All of the above are NOT reasons I have failed to finish November's blogging and also failed to START December's. Oh, the shame. Actually, I'm used to being a little less than exact on things like this -I'll get better, though. :)
I really would like to discuss in some detail the idea of being noble and acting nobley. But I also want to point out that this entire STUDY is basically "Princess Training 101." Think about it: if you know how much you are loved and valued, you can't help but want to exhibit the characteristics the King posesses and demonstrates. You don't need me to point that out - a true realization of who we are in Christ enables us and inspires us to be like Him. In fact, apart from that realization, we can't begin to BE like Him, so if you're not there yet, friend, we need to rewind this tape and start over. If you are aware of who you are in the KING'S eyes, however...transformation is natural. Being loved makes us more loving. Being shown grace should make us more graceful. Reading about discipleship and obedience in the Bible should make us want to practice self-discipline. We all know this and will spend our lives, if we are Christians, growing in these traits and in our understanding/relationship with our King. You don't need me to list the basic character traits of a Biblical woman. The point of this is not to go over the general stuff like "be kind" or "be patient" or "be joyful." We are often hard enough on ourselves about whether we are suffiently exhibiting all the ideal characteristics we know we ought to possess! What we can do is this: read Proverbs 31 together, and enjoy a short journey that focuses on 12 specific categories to which we can apply these character traits in really practical, sometimes fun, and ultimately very BENEFICIAL ways. I am all about the practical applications. Give me 10 books about what theologians believe the Greeks believed about holiness, and I will trade them for one book about how I can demonstrate and live holiness at work, in my family, with my friends - on a day to day basis.
So I'll dispense with laboring over the "Princess Training" idea (I'll save that for the book, hehe) and we'll get straight to DECEMBER'S topic. Our model is RELIABLE, RESPONSIBLE IN WORK; ORGANIZED, ENERGETIC, INDUSTRIOUS.
Wheeeeeeew. December is the busiest month of the year where I work. And I am not one who easily combines reliability AND energy well - being super reliable & responsible and organized, I can do. But the result is sometimes total burnout, because it just takes a lot of energy for me to be that way for 8 hours straight. What about you? Are you reliable and responsible naturally? Do you feel energetic and industrious in some areas, but not in others? Do you feel guilty when working makes you feel so, so tired?
I'll explore what the Bible has to say about this, and I'm sure there are some great articles and books out there about this. I'll do some research this wkend - in the meantime, let me know if you think of any good resources that speak to this topic. Here we gooooooo, December!!
By the way...my Christmas tree. Another reason I haven't blogged enough in November: it turned into a monster and ate my computer.
Lies.
Ah! Floors look great! Can't wait to see them (and you :)). Lets pick a date.
Posted by: Summer | Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:30 PM