A year with a purpose

The end of the year is such a great time, don’t you think?  It is a great opportunity to slow down and think what we have done, what would we like to do and dream big for the next year.

We continuously complain how fast time is going by so it is good to stop and make sure we don’t allow one more year to just get lost in the rush of our lives.  It is a time to revisit each moment, from the tough circumstances draw lessons and from happy ones save smiles and memories in our heart to never forget them, and maybe include as one of our New Year’s resolution to enjoy each day to the maximum.

It is also a time to look ahead toward the New Year and to make plans. Making New Year’s resolutions is so much fun! It may sound silly, but I love that feeling of a fresh start and new opportunities ahead. I know this can happen in any month of the year and in any day of the month, but for some reason resolutions are more exciting in January.

I have finally learned that to make any plan that is worthwhile, first I need to spend time with God to find guidance.  It makes no sense for us to make a lot of plans and work hard to achieve them, if God is not involved all the time and investment will be wasted, “Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is useless.” (Psalm 127:1)

When thinking about our New Year’s resolutions we may not know where to start but if we put God first, He will guide us and show us the way “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) and keep in mind that God is big, so most likely He will ask us to do big things, tough things that will give big fruit and will glorify Him in big ways. 

So as you get ready to write your goals for the new year; whatever you decide, make sure it helps you to live each day of the year with purpose; be good to yourself; ask God for His blessing and for those blessings to overflow so many will be blessed; make yourself available for His purpose and I can assure you there will not be a boring day in your life. Let’s live according to what we believe.

Breathe deeper, laugh often, live with passion making time for the important things.  Be happy and let your happiness be contagious; change one life, change many lives, once you make the decision you will be surprised how random acts of kindness will start becoming part of your daily life and blessings will be multiplied.

Above everything, let this year be all about God, about receiving His love, spending time with Him, reading His Word and allowing Him to fill you.  

As we close one year and greet the next one we need to remember that everything starts and ends with God, He is “the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (Revelations 22:13)  

Happy New Year!

A legacy of love

Have you ever thought about the legacy you are leaving?  Have you thought how your actions today will speak tomorrow? 

Building a legacy doesn’t happen in a day, it is the outcome of our daily living, so it is something we need to think about now.  

God has this amazing plan for each of us “For I know the plans I have for you, ‘says the Lord.’ They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)  But what if for that plan to be completed we have to do something bigger than us, something we may not want to because it is too hard and painful.  What if God is asking us to behave in a way that makes no sense to society and to our view of fairness … What if God is asking us to love the way He loves us and that is the legacy He wants us to leave.

Should we love even those we feel don’t deserve it? “I am giving you a new commandment: love each other.  Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.” (John 13:34) This answers our doubt, so maybe the question is, how do we love someone whom we feel doesn’t deserve it.

We can look for hints in 1 Corinthians 13 but the words in this verse may leave us even more confused. “Love is patient and kind.  Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

Do you see what I mean?  How can we love this way?  It seems impossible!  But before we can digest this description of love, Paul finishes saying:  “It’s like this: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child does.  But when I grew up, I put away childish things.”  (1Corinthians 13:11) Maybe all the excuses I was about to write and all the reasons I was going to give for not being able to love the way God wants us to love were childish thoughts.  Maybe God is saying to us that it is time to grow up and begin a new level, one that requires for us to allow Him to love through us, no matter how hard it may seem.

But are we supposed to love, even if we have been wronged? Are we supposed to be patient and kind and always hopeful?  It doesn’t seem fair does it?  If we really think about it, was it fair when Jesus died for our sins? God loves us so much that “he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)  Did we deserve it?  How patient has God been with us?  How many times have we hurt Him by turning away from Him? And yet He never gives up on us and He is by our side in every circumstance. 

Jesus was, is and will always be love. We can argue that He can love that way because He is God, but when Jesus came to earth He became a man, with the same feelings and weaknesses we have, so He could have not loved all those around Him, but He chose to, because that was His mission on earth. “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work” (John 4:34)

Everyone has been created in the image of God “God patterned them after himself; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) when we love someone, no matter what they have done, we are loving God.  When we love the way God wants us to love, our actions speak of Him and we share His love.  It is all about God; He shines and He is glorified.  We leave a legacy that has eternal impact, a legacy of love.

A team effort

Do you sometimes think that you can or need to do it all alone, so you keep going until you crash?

Do you feel there is so much to do and so little time?  Then love yourself and share the work load!

I will be honest, as I write this; I smile to myself, because it is so much easier said than done, isn’t it?

I don’t know if this happens to everyone, but for me delegating is hard!  I know I should, I know I need to, I know it is the right thing to do, but…  

Sometimes we want to do so much, we have great intentions, we may even be working on the mission God has placed on our heart but we are doing it all alone and as we read the Bible it doesn’t take us long to realize that God is interested in us being a community, in depending on each other.

We read in 1 Corinthians 12:12; 18 “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only one body.  So it is with the body of Christ….  God made our bodies with many parts, and he has put each part just where he wants it.”  This applies to our life, we are supposed to depend on others; we are connected.

 “Who is Apollos, and who is Paul, that we should be the cause of such quarrels? Why, we’re only servants… Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. My job was to plant the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God, not we, who made it grow.  The ones who do the planting or watering aren’t important, but God is important because he is the one who makes the seed grow.  The one who plants and the one who waters work as a team with the same purpose.  Then they will be rewarded individually, according to their own hard work.  We work together as partners who belong to God. ” (1 Corinthians 3:5-9)

I wonder why we don’t like to delegate or share our work?  Could a little bit of pride be hidden deep inside our motive? Could there be some fear that others will not be able to do things as well as us or maybe we are afraid they could do them better than us? Or simply we just don’t want to “bother” anyone, but then again that takes us back to pride, can we really be self-sufficient?

We all have talents and abilities which we should use, interact and maximize.  We can do more together than on our own.  Even Jesus shared the work load “Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness.”  (Matthew 10:1)

In Exodus 18:14; 17 we read how Moses’ father in law, Jethro, gives him great advice as he sees people lining up for Moses to help them with their problems. “Why are you trying to do all this alone? The people have been standing here all day to get your help… you’re going to wear yourself out – and the people too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself.”  And I love Moses’ response; he “listened to his father-in law’s advice and followed his suggestions.” (Exodus 18:24) 

But it goes so much further than just getting some help so Moses could do a better job and the people could get help faster, so much happens spiritually when we work as a team.  In another occasion when Moses asked God to send help, God told him to get together seventy of the leaders of Israel “Bring them to the Tabernacle to stand there with you.  I will come down and talk to you there.  I will take some of the Spirit that is upon you, and I will put the Spirit upon them also.  They will bear the burden of the people along with you, so you will not have to carry it alone.’”(Numbers 11:16-17) God answered Moses plead by preparing people around him and sharing His blessings, His Spirit! So many times when we refuse to share our work load we could be denying others of blessings that God has prepared for them.  

God has big plans for each of us and He is not expecting us to carry the weight on our own.   He has already placed in our path the people who will cover us in prayer, the people who will share the ups and downs of the journey, and the people who will cry and laugh and celebrate each victory with us. This is a team effort and God is our leader.