Day 16.........Love
Now we're getting to the nitty gritty, so to speak. Wow. Love. We hear it all around us everyday. We see it expressed on the backs of cars as we travel the highways. "I love New York", "I love my dog", "I love my Ford", "I love my Chevy". And we hear folks say, "I love ice-cream", "I love that new song by....", "I love to go....", "Oh, I love the food at that place". It gets to the point that we forget what love really is. It's not an emotion, or a feeling.........it's a choice. You choose whom you will love. Let's purpose in our hearts that there will be no more compromise (as far as love goes) and there will be no more wasted days. It's so easy to get so caught up with life, that we forget the most important part of it.......loving others. There were some really pertinent questions asked in the last few sentences of this chapter. Let's really focus our energy in changing our priorities to be more God centered, and more people centered than anything else. Love, love, and love some more.
"Honestly, are relationships my first priority? How can I ensure that they are?"
As any of my customers can tell you......I put my relationship with them first. I do my best to show Christ's love for them in every email. I know I could do more. My main agenda is letting people know Jesus loves them, and that they can be a part of His family. I certainly don't want to "toot my own horn" but I do want to answer the question honestly. There are times I get so busy that I can forget to put others first. One way I can remember to make sure relationships are my first priority is to check out my motives for why I do what I do on a daily basis. That's the best way I can surmise how to ensure that. What say you??? :-) James
posted by James at 1:05 PM
1 Comments:
"Honestly, are relationships my first priority? How can I ensure that they are?"
I am learning to make relationships my first priority.
This is a real challenge for me at times, because I often feel as if too many people want a piece of me.
I don't say that because I think I'm "Ms. Wonderful". That's not it at all. It's just that so much of my day is centered around caring for my immediate family.
Young children require enormous amounts of time, love, and energy. Come to think of it, older children do as well; and yes, even spouses require this from time to time. It's hard to be available to everyone and still feel wholey whole.
I think for me, everything begins with acknowledging my first and primary relationship as the one I have with God. Without Him, I lose my way.
I am finding that I must purpose time for prayer, and for connecting in a conscous way with our living God. I think it is through my relationship with God that I am empowered to invest in the many other relationships that I am privileged to experience on any given day.
If I stay focused on God, if I live from that "holy center" of knowing Him, I can withdraw from the busyness of doing and engage in the business of being with others in significant and meaningful ways.
Here I am, halfway through my life, and only now am I beginning to learn how to do this. Truth be told, I don't always prioritize relationships very well; but that's ok.
I read once that anything worth doing well, is worth doing poorly. (The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership)
I don't want to let my fear of loving imperfectly prevent me from loving. So I don't. I risk loving imperfectly and I trust God to help me love better, deeper and more like Christ!
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