Spending My Words....Spinning My Words

Read something the other day that got me thinking. "We spend our words on lavishly sharing our stories; now it's time to spend our lives."

I like words. I like the way a right word can make a point. And even though I know a picture is worth a 1,000 words, I like crafting a sentence to present the image I want. A favorite from My Utmost is December 15, "Approved to God". II Timothy 2:15 says "Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive His approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth." Chambers has this to say:" If you cannot express yourself well on each of your beliefs, work and study until you can....Always make it a practice to stir your own mind thoroughly to think through what you have easily believed. Your position is not your until you make it yours through suffering and study."

But I so easily get caught up in words. They come at me from every angle. With TV, books, radio, internet, cell phones, FB and more, there is an abundance of words both in my head and in the air. I have been "Home Alone" with just the dogs for the past 10 days, and I have made an effort not to have things going just for the sake of noise. Sometimes the silence is uncomfortable, but is is beginning to become my friend. In the silence, God speaks to me. Maybe it's just that He doesn't have to compete. Pretty sad to think that God would have to compete with the 6 o'clock news!

In this silence, He has reminded me that it's not about how I spend my words, it's how I spend my life. He took me to Isaiah 55, where God says,"Why spend your money on food that doesn't give strength? Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life." For me, time IS my currency, and I don't want to waste it. I know the places where He wants me to spend my currency right now, and one of them is the County Justice Center. So it was fitting yesterday, after sharing God's Word with the women, that one of them came up to me and said, "I like your words, and the way you talk. Where can I learn more?"

I just smiled, because it wasn't my words she liked at all, it was the life-changing Word of God that caused her to ponder.

First Quarter Insights

The first three months of 2010 have whizzed by, and the bookkeeper in me tells me it's time for a Quarterly Review. I have gone 90 days without using a structured devotional or Bible study for my personal time with Jesus. I have limited my reading of fiction to 1 book a month, and I haven't even picked out April's book yet! I have fought with the "stuff" in my life, lost a few skirmishes, but continue on the march to simplicity. Things just seem to multiply and overwhelm, and it's not an easy battle.

One of my favorite verses says to...make it my aim to lead a quiet life and to mind my own business....so that people who are not Christians will respect the way I live. That's another big assignment.

Something is slowly emerging, though, and I am excited about this change. It's like my head is not as full of fragments of different things as it used to be. Where before I was always reading something, I don't feel insecure if I'm not attached to reading material. I am memorizing verses (not on a schedule, tho), and I find myself reflecting more on them. I am thinking about things. Pondering. Reflecting. Looking for another's point of view. Asking God for His perspective a whole lot more---not looking for my answer in a stack of books.

In a nutshell, to know God is to know His Word, and as I take in more of the Bible, I deepen that relationship. I am sensing this in my mind, where I am becoming less distracted. It's like when a situations arises, I am able to see the root issues more quickly, and hear His voice!

Like many people, although I'm a great starter, sometimes the finishing of a thing is another matter. But this time of just the Bible and a journal is taking me places that are giving me contentment deep in my soul, even when things don't look so contented! I am determined to keep at it.....no matter the cost.