well i've been slacking off in a big way! lots going on in my world, work & planning the SAMM shelter meal and plenty of sweet time with my boyfriend, friends, and family. it's all good stuff, but not enough blogging. guess this isn't my calling ;) Anyway, I want to quickly wrap up January's virtue and then move right into February which is a particularly challenging one for me!
To recap: January: RELIABLE, DEPENDABLE IN CHARACTER; JOYFUL, STRENGTH & HONOR ARE THEMES IN HER LIFE & SHE LOOKS FORWARD TO THE FUTURE WITH HOPE & JOY
February: PLANS AHEAD, HARD WORKER, AVERTS CRISISES & STRESSFUL CRUNCHES WITH WISE PREPARATION
Yeah, wise preparation, planning ahead - definitely need to read/pray/work on those. Aren't we blessed that we serve a God who tells us what to be but knows we will struggle? He gives us the tools, the grace, and the time we need to become our best. I'm thankful for that.
We already covered the "dependable character" part of January and I hope you've been inspired, as I have been, to work on consistency. I haven't been 100% successful but I can see my heart and mind changing and that is encouraging. It's the outward expression of that change that needs work - bad habits need to be broken (don't they always? pesky habits) but I FEEL more motivated and inspired than ever before to be the person God calls me to be in every circumstance. That can only lead to better habits.
January also focused on attitude, JOYFUL, STRENGTH & HONOR ARE THEMES IN HER LIFE & SHE LOOKS FORWARD TO THE FUTURE WITH HOPE & JOY. I am single, have been for 30 years, and sometimes it's a wonderful blessing. Other times it's frustrating & not-so-ideal. But, I know a time will come when I must consider my husband and children every day, in every decision that I make. I will worry about my kids future and hope that I'm not sabatoging their success & health with my actions. I will work to maintain a healthy, growing, fun relationship with a man I've committed my life and heart to, Either way, I have a future - it won't start with a family, it will become more challenging and also more important with one.
So what am I doing now? What's my attitude now? I'm in training, as a single woman, forming habits and attitudes that will impact the people in my life for years to come. I have thought often about the legacy I want to leave behind. I think the best characteristics I'd like people to remember are definitely the ones we're thinking about for January. Joyfulness. Strength. Honor. These shouldn't be fleeting good moments that people must struggle to recall, they should define me. Do they? I don't know, but I have years (God willing) to make them the themes of my life. Everyone has weak moments, down days, makes mistakes. But if I can learn to be an upper, someone who emanates those things whatever the circumstance or situation, then I will have arrived. The Bible says "The joy of the Lord is my strength." Plenty of people are happy and positive, but where does it come from? Is it genetic? A choice? As a Christian I sometimes lose my appreciation for what God, my King, has done for me. I lose perspective. But when I remember that He died for my sins and gracefully, patiently, forgives me every time I do something hurtful or wrong, it's like being hit with a ton of bricks. JOY bricks. This, I believe, means that joy is a decision. An active remembering of how good I have it thanks to the God I serve and the truth I know.
We are on this earth for the blink of an eye and we don't control much of what happens in our lives or in the world. We do, however, control our attitude. And an attitude focused on gratitude/humility/eternity - despite the uncontrollable factors we face - is the joy and strength I want to harness. I want it to be evident in my relationships, in how I live out my faith, in the worst and best of circumstances.
What about you? What is joy, and how do you harness it? What does it mean to be a strong woman? Is it power? If so, power over what? Yourself, or others? The feminist movement took womanly strength and twisted it into an ugly knot of selfish, false empowerment that I'm sure I'm not immune to. The truth and the lie often look so similar, don't they? What are we working to unbelieve, and what is the truth we must work to remind ourselves?
Comments