Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. Col. 3:1,2I've started running just since I've been retired, determined to stay (or get!) fit now that I have the time. It's not always fun. I can handle it on early mornings in the summer, but I'm beginning to dread the cold, gray days of winter when there just isn't any enjoyable time.
Maybe I shouldn't even call it running. My husband once said I should call it "wogging" - somewhere between a walk and a jog. I started out by "wogging" past one house and walking past the next until now I can run all the way up to the field by our house, then down the walking trail. It's progress anyway!
This fall I've been studying a book "Becoming a Spiritually Fit Christian". It amazes me how I've finally been studying long enough that I'm not always learning new things, but old things in a new way. And how, just like staying fit physically, we can't let up with our spiritual disciplines, because we need to keep the sword of the Word talked about in Eph. 6 sharp and on the ready.
As I've been volunteering as a life coach at Love, Inc. (a place where people who those coming out of incarceration, the jobless, the homeless, etc. can go for help), the human condition has struck me anew...all caused because the devil prowls around like a roating lion (I Peter 5). I would never have felt called to minister to these people without my life coaching training, but I'm finding they are no different from me. We all need God just as much every day. In fact, sometimes I'm finding that those who have found the Lord in jail or through circumstances much darker than I've ever experienced see His light even brighter against their backgrounds! I can't tell you how often their excitement in their newfound faith ministers to me!
The message that they need to hear and I need to keep hearing OVER AND OVER has been condensed for me into my latest memory verse - a great simplifier to me - (Col.3:1-2) "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." I needed to hear ONCE AGAIN the story of Peter trying to walk on the water (Matt. 14:25) and sinking when he took his eyes off of Jesus. These words from our study hit me over the head like I'd never heard the story before: "The only way Peter was able to walk on stormy seas toward His Master was by looking to Jesus for strength to obey His command. After all, there are tons of earthly things getting our attention just in the course of living, so the necessity of working out with the Word is so clear to me now. No wonder I have spent so much of my life stuggling without peace when I lived so many days unarmed.
I'm amazed at the statistics that are overwhelmingly in favor of not landing back in jail for those who have become Christians through jail ministries. We all have our strongholds and we all can land right back in them if we are not "keeping our eyes on things above!" Again, I sometimes see these people as seeing their fight against alcohol and drugs and falling back in with the wrong crowd as clear obstacles in their path, whereas mine may be more subtle, but no less deadly! I have the freedom from many cares of the world - I know where my next meal is coming from and that my house payment will be made, but I still enter my day at times with the confusion of all the earthly choices on my path and fall away from living to His potential for me.
I know I'm not saying anything new here. I'm not trying to be Beth Moore. I'm just rambling on about the latest things the Lord has put on my heart - it looks like that's what I'm called to do in my retirment from fighting the fight of improving education.
Now I'm just running the race the best way I know how - and feel called to share what I've learned with anyone out there who is also seeking God's will for their life. For if there's one thing I know - that is the pathway to peace. And I'm having the privilege of knowing this isn't just true for me - I'm seeing that over and over in those who begin to seek Him hard, simply setting their mind on things above.
I continue to share my poetry and my life coaching with anyone that falls in my path. Thanks for taking time to share my journey and feel free to share it with anyone you know that may be seeking peace.
Running the Race
We struggle,we work.
We worry, we fret.
The devil apparent
on planet earth - and yet...
We fight in our own strength.
We meet the day on the run,
our minds on our to-do list.
There is much to be done.
We know that the devil
prowls like a lion who roars (I Pet. 5).
Yet we face the day unarmed,
thinking most of our chores.
We begin the day undressed,
with no armor, no sword. (Eph.6)
We take time for our coffee,
yet we race by our Lord...
who longs to remind us,
"Seek me first" (Mt. 6:39),
"Set your mind on things above" (Col. 3:1,2)
Then we wonder why we struggle
and our hearts aren't filled with love.
So let us stop for just a moment
and prepare for our day,
clothe ourselves in righteousness,
stop and seek His way.
Then our way becomes lighter,
no matter what we may face.
We see things from His perspcetive
and we can persevere in our race.
Let us run with perseverance the race
marked out for us (Heb. 12: 1)
