Friday, March 6, 2009

The weather again?!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a wonderful day in the neighborhood. Aw man, do I miss Mr. Rogers and the fact that it was once cool to watch that show. Okay, so really I just miss being little, whatevs.

Today is beautiful, albeit a bit chilly. (Again with that weather thing.) I think I talk about it so much because it has such an effect on me and my well-being. Am I the only one with this issue? Seriously though, if it snows ONE MORE TIME, I will cry. Maybe. Seriously. Okay, so I won't... but Sami needs her spring!

Wednesday I put together my small group's study for Saturday (by the way I just realized how much I love leading small group :) and we are going through the third and fourth chapters of Colossians. Everything was so fitting for my life right now. God has a way of getting my attention when I take time to ponder His word, go figure. The verses that have been focusing me since Wednesday have been Colossians 3: 14-17. They are wonderful COMMANDS that I've been avoiding doing. No wonder my life has been a twisty darkness of twisty dark things. Let me share with you what it says...
"Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks through Him to God the Father." (Emphasis mine, NASB version)

It seems so poignant to me that the peace of Christ should RULE in my heart and the word of Christ should RICHLY DWELL within me. Those are not passive verbs. Those are verbs that call for action. I've been realizing lately how important it is for daily time with the Father, especially daily time in the morning. I'm going to be better about spending time with God before starting the hustle and bustle of my day. That way the peace of Christ will rule in my heart and His words will richly dwell within me throughout the day.

I haven't been so excited about scripture in months! (Which I'm sure my sporadic and super quick reading of the Bible hasn't been helpful in my lack of desire for the Word.) I'm really looking forward to spending more time in the Word and focusing my thoughts toward things above and not below. (Also from Colossians :D)

In other news...
Tonight I'm baby-sitting for a few hours then going to a game night. Tomorrow morning is small group and then going to a McCall for a retreat with Impact. Should be a good weekend. I'm excited to spend time in God's presence out in nature :)

Blessings and Love,
Samantha

7 comments:

Tracy said...

Great post, Sam! I ♥ that passage of Scripture! You are so right, that all of those verbs are action verbs. We can't just sit around {in a spiritual sense} & have Christ's peace & His word ruling in our hearts, but we need to actively be in His word & prayer.

Daily time with Him is something I struggle with, but my day is so different when I begin with Him. I truly do feel His peace throughout the day.

I ♥ your new blog look! I have a serious case of spring fever!

Have a GREAT weekend!

{hugs}

Stephanie said...

Yeah, definitely. If I don't spend time with God in the morning (usually first), it usually turns out that I'll hardly spend any time in the word or none. Scripture is so exciting and I'm glad you agree!

I don't think I knew you were leading a small group, so it's cool that it's going well (presumably) and that you love doing it. How is it as a place to be open and honest with each other and how many girls are in your group? I'm guessing it's all girls. Keep me posted on how that's going.

Sarah Holman said...

I love to teach too! That is what you sort of do when you lead a small group right? It's still warm and sunny here in Texas :)

Arianna said...

Great post, Samantha ;) Colossians is probably one of my favorite books in the Bible, especially chapter 3, verse 17. I'm trying to improve this year on doing EVERYTHING for God, not just some things. It's not always easy, but totally worth it!
And I can't wait for it to be Spring, either! Yesterday was sunny, fairly warm, and gorgeous and I thought Spring was finally here, but it snowed again today. Sniff. You're lucky to have warm weather all of the time, Sarah! ;)

~Arianna~

Jessica Gookin said...

I love to spend time with God before bed. It really helps me -especially after a hard or exciting day- to just calm down, and release all that pain and pressure.
The weather here (Iowa) is really wacky. Thursday and Friday were in the sixties and seventies, but it snowed on Sunday! Hopefully it will be getting warm again soon!

Becky said...

What a great post! :o)

I am not a big morning person and have a hard time concentrating when I do my quiet time then. I usually try and do it before bed because my mind is sharper, but I also have a hard time staying awake. Figure that one out. :P

Anyway, thank you for directing me towards that bit of Scripture. I'm all for people doing their quiet time in a way that brings them the closest connection to God, but there's definitely something to be said for starting your day off with Him.

I am challenged to try and pick up this habit again - thanks a bunch!

Dragonflysoul said...

i'm all late reading this. but i guess i'm right on time. i've been praying about this very thing in my life. as Tracy said, i STRUGGLE with daily time with God, in prayer and in the word. and i feel convicted every single day. i hate when i just give Him "moments" of my time, when He deserves so much more from me.

and not only does He deserve it, but i NEED it. my days flow better, my heart beats better, my mind has peace when i dive into His word daily and spend time in conversation with Him. so....why is it so hard for me to maintain? why does it only take ONE day of falling off of devotion for me to lose my way completely? why am i sometimes so reluctant to spend time in His word and in prayer?

your post was wonderfully inspiring. i know God can move in my heart to change these things in me, but i also have the HUGE responsibility of crucifying those tendencies myself and pushing past those moments so that I can feed my spirit with His word. it's not an option.

love ya!