I am sure there are many more things I could think of if it were not such a late hour and my body were not demanding sleep, but I will share the first few that came to my mind, things that I both want to implement as immediately as possible but also things I want to continue to work towards, very likely, for the rest of my life....
I want to learn to trust God, not based on outward circumstances, but based on His character and my relationship with Him, knowing He loves me.
I want to live more simply, like Jesus did, and teach my precious children to do the same. I want to understand grace more and more and more.
I want my heart to be broken with the things that break God's heart. I want Him to increase compassion and love and mercy in my heart, even if it hurts sometimes to feel in that kind of way.
I want to make my one life count. I want to find more and more practical ways to reach out to others, relieve their pain, their need, their hurt, in Jesus name.
I want to be a woman who prays, really prays. I want to be more grateful, to complain less, to celebrate the gift of NOW!
I want to seek peace and pursue it. As much as is possible in me, I want to live at peace with all, to be a peacemaker and child of God.
Finally, to quote my dear friend and Jesus-sister Ann Voskamp,
"I want to see beauty. In the ugly, in the sink, in the suffering, in the daily, in all the days before I die, the moments before I sleep. Isn't beauty what we yearn to burn with before we die? What else so ignites, hot flame? Beauty is all that is glory and God is Beauty embodied, glory manifested. This is what I crave: I hunger for beauty."
Oh precious Jesus, beyond the sacred page, the songs and hymns, the fellowship- it is You I seek. Transform me with your grace, with your love, with You Yourself. ~Amen
Truly beautiful Amy, and I would say that is a very fine list, in fact a totally complete list, for everything you mentioned affects everything else in life! If we all lived by this, the world would be a much better place! Lori
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