Thursday, February 2, 2012

Progress on the Routines...

As you might know, or as you might not know, I have been trying to incorporate some routines in my life to give myself some much needed balance. I have found that my life is much more peaceful when I am organized and things are clean. Therefore, I have vowed to take the 21 Day Challenge! I am trying to:
-Make my bed every morning
-Clean my room before bed
-Do the dishes before bed
-Clean the bathroom before bed
and...
-Week Day Bedtime: 10:30 or 11pm
-Week Day Wake Up: 7:30am

I've been trying my best to keep up with all of these things as well as keep up with my homework, my tutoring job, and my daycare job. How's it going?
WONDERFUL!
It's been a week and I've slipped up on doing the dishes once, but other than that, I've kept my promises to myself and I have seen a remarkable difference in my life. I am so proud of myself for being consistent. Hopefully I can make it through all 21 days so these things become a habit.

What Has God Passed On To You?

Well, I stole this from my own Facebook page, but I enjoyed writing it so much that I thought I would share it here as well. I would like to look back in a couple of months and re-read this for myself so I might as well. Happy Reading!

Here is a song that I think many of you will like. It's called "Learning To Be The Light" by Newworldson. I would also like to share a little reflection of my understanding of this song. The chorus of this song is so meaningful to me because the lyrics say, "You gave me something I want everyone to see. When we stumble and it all goes wrong, only You can make it right so I say, I'm learning to be the light."
How beautiful and true. God has instilled something in each of us that is unique and bright and beautiful. Something that no one else could do better or understands better than we do. But not only has He instilled these things in us, He has SHARED them with us. What I mean by this is that the unique talents He has instilled in us are actually traits of His own that have been passed on to His children. Another set of lyrics in this song say, "I'll build a city on a hill and I'll light a candle on the sill knowing You'll be always knocking at the door. Oh God, I just want to love on everyone and all I have is Yours to give so let the people come." Notice how it says, "all I have is Yours to give." God did not pass His traits on to His children so that we could keep them to ourselves. Imagine that you are building a city that specializes in all the traits God has passed on to you. In order to make your city known, people have to be able to find it, right? So instead of building your city in a hole, build it on the highest hill and make it bright! In life you can hold your head up high and be confident! You have something that God has given to you and you alone! God is living in YOU! If you want others to know what God is like, don't preach to them by telling them story after story from the Bible. You can do this and should share the Word however, instead of simple talking... SHOW them. By sharing that special gift with you, God lives in you and by using that special gift you can let others see that God is not just some guy that lives in Heaven- He is HERE, in each of us. The line, "Oh God, I just want to love on everyone" is such a powerful statement in my opinion. So often we forget that our purpose on Earth is not to become better than those around us. But, if that's not our purpose, what is? There are obviously many answers to this question, but my favorite is that we are here to share the talents God has given us and to seek out the talents God has given to others. But, here's the catch. God is tricky. In order to see that God lives in you and discover the traits and talents He has passed on to you, you have to be able to discover Him in the hearts of those around you. "Love on everyone" because everyone's heart is the house of God.