I am so glad that as I write this I know your wife is home and you were spending time with her. My goodness, the meaningful things in life sure come down to those few, critical people. My father-in-law invited his daughters to come choose their favorite Christmas decorations because decorating was what he and his wife did. She's been gone to Christmases now and he's done decorating. I can understand and unfortunately felt this year similar to how my dad used to feel. It's not that I don't love the decorating in the celebrating, it's just that there isn't enough time. Adding all the extra chores of this month to celebrate a decorate and prepare, on top of the already overwhelming amount of daily requirements, really make me think about the priorities. The same can be said for spending more time with Jesus, as you said today. Something less important needs to be cut, though I don't discount the times I'm down here working with wood, thinking about the Carpenter. I suppose it's not much different than when I used to go to the forestry farm to photograph and worship while I appreciate Creation. Yes, the irony is that while I'm down here enjoying your videos I'm also taking it a lot of the most difficult things to listen to while I watch videos and try to stay informed. That doesn't exactly improve the connection between us. I think that unfortunately, my dissatisfaction has come in a roundabout way in that it didn't grow out of faith, it grew out of dissatisfaction with everything else in the world. I don't want my faith in relationship to be a result of everything else being worthless, but I'm not opposed to that being a factor of it, similar to quitting smoking so that Angela would consider me as a husband. I had wanted to quit for a long time but was unable to. I guess I don't have a problem with being forced, from a loving perspective, when there's something that I need to do that would be good for me. Your sister once gave a message at Ebenezer where she spoke about being bored and that Faith doesn't always need to be excited. That piece can be a state of being and that you may be sure to appreciate it the way it is. She was happy to touch on the obvious, when we are unhappy or unsettled it needs an inward look, but I remember her clearly saying peacefulness is not necessarily boring, it might be that things are right and don't need changing.
😊 so much good there I want to respond to, but I probably won't because I'll forget Thank you for that thought filled comment. I am inspired so deeply by those men and women who have relationships with God that just caused them to go deeper and want to be with him more and more and more. (heads up we will have another story like that tomorrow morning !) They were willing to sacrifice just about anything to be able to have that with him. Apparently, I am not willing to sacrifice just about anything to be with him. On one hand that really makes me sad, but on the other hand, it's amazing that he allows me the space to make that call, and he'll take from me whatever kind of space I'm willing to give him. Sometimes I do want him to demand more time from me or you know just push me a bit harder. But I think when we're connected to him, he's not a big pusher. Certainly the desire is there, but maybe the decisions of the Will are not there yet. I like your image of going down to be with the carpenter. 😊
I am so glad that as I write this I know your wife is home and you were spending time with her. My goodness, the meaningful things in life sure come down to those few, critical people. My father-in-law invited his daughters to come choose their favorite Christmas decorations because decorating was what he and his wife did. She's been gone to Christmases now and he's done decorating. I can understand and unfortunately felt this year similar to how my dad used to feel. It's not that I don't love the decorating in the celebrating, it's just that there isn't enough time. Adding all the extra chores of this month to celebrate a decorate and prepare, on top of the already overwhelming amount of daily requirements, really make me think about the priorities. The same can be said for spending more time with Jesus, as you said today. Something less important needs to be cut, though I don't discount the times I'm down here working with wood, thinking about the Carpenter. I suppose it's not much different than when I used to go to the forestry farm to photograph and worship while I appreciate Creation.
Yes, the irony is that while I'm down here enjoying your videos I'm also taking it a lot of the most difficult things to listen to while I watch videos and try to stay informed. That doesn't exactly improve the connection between us. I think that unfortunately, my dissatisfaction has come in a roundabout way in that it didn't grow out of faith, it grew out of dissatisfaction with everything else in the world. I don't want my faith in relationship to be a result of everything else being worthless, but I'm not opposed to that being a factor of it, similar to quitting smoking so that Angela would consider me as a husband. I had wanted to quit for a long time but was unable to. I guess I don't have a problem with being forced, from a loving perspective, when there's something that I need to do that would be good for me. Your sister once gave a message at Ebenezer where she spoke about being bored and that Faith doesn't always need to be excited. That piece can be a state of being and that you may be sure to appreciate it the way it is. She was happy to touch on the obvious, when we are unhappy or unsettled it needs an inward look, but I remember her clearly saying peacefulness is not necessarily boring, it might be that things are right and don't need changing.
😊 so much good there I want to respond to, but I probably won't because I'll forget
Thank you for that thought filled comment.
I am inspired so deeply by those men and women who have relationships with God that just caused them to go deeper and want to be with him more and more and more. (heads up we will have another story like that tomorrow morning !) They were willing to sacrifice just about anything to be able to have that with him.
Apparently, I am not willing to sacrifice just about anything to be with him. On one hand that really makes me sad, but on the other hand, it's amazing that he allows me the space to make that call, and he'll take from me whatever kind of space I'm willing to give him.
Sometimes I do want him to demand more time from me or you know just push me a bit harder. But I think when we're connected to him, he's not a big pusher.
Certainly the desire is there, but maybe the decisions of the Will are not there yet.
I like your image of going down to be with the carpenter. 😊