The little things

My parents have been married twenty-four and a half years and are, even now, very much in love.  How did they make their relationship work for that long, and how are they still in love?  The little things.  The way one looked at the other, noticed how tired their spouse was, and offered to make dinner.  The way Dad sends Mom flowers with a love note at random times, just to make her feel special.  The way they forgive quickly and look back at their failures together and each only remembers the good about the other.  Neither of them have to make sure the other has their back; they're married and they know that it's for life, but they keep the fire alive by doing the little things and not letting the wedge of complacency settle into their relationship.  How does this relate to me, you say?

Our relationship with Christ is similar!  Our relationship grows stronger when we start to see Him in the little things.  When the sun shines in your window in the morning, do you take it for granted?  Or do you thank the Almighty who makes the sun rise every day?  When we begin to see His blessing in our every day lives, we begin to sing His praises even without thinking about it!  Psalm 34:1 says, "I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips."  By praising him continually, we build up a loving relationship.  It's one thing to say you love Him; it's quite another to tell Him that every single day, with every single breath.  Like a married couple, we must build each other up or our relationship will never last.  God encourages us daily, but how often do we tell Him the things we love about Him and the things that make Him so amazing to us?  We are the bride of Christ but we can never make our relationship work unless we are totally committed to each other.  Christ is committed to us, but how committed are we to Him?  I don't know about you, but like my parents, I don't want to have to question whether my spouse has my back or not; I want to know.  And the sooner I start building my relationship with Christ, the better.  So I'm going to put into practice the things that I don't usually make a priority; singing praises to my Savior when I can't see the good in my situation, thanking Him for every breath that I breathe, and dancing for His glory...because in the end?  It's the little things that matter.

<3 Mik

Stars

Genesis 1:16-18 says, "Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.  He made the stars also.  God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness.  And God saw that it was good."
The part I want to focus on is dividing the light from the darkness.  Let's link it over to Philippians 2:14-15 that says, "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe..."

As Christians, it is our responsibility to shine like stars.  Yeah yeah yeah, we've heard it before...but did you ever think about it this way?  We DIVIDE the light from the darkness.  We draw the line of righteousness.  We are called to be different because we show the dividing line between the righteousness of God and the darkness of the devil.  If we aren't shining brightly, how will the world understand the difference of right and wrong?  Younger generations learn from what their parents do, what their siblings do, what their friends do.  If we do nothing, how will they know the difference of right and wrong?  "Oh they've got Godly friends", you think "they'll be fine".  WAKE. UP.  How dare you place your burden of responsibility on someone else's shoulders!  This world is going down the tubes and all you can say is "They'll be fine"?!  No.  I want to live for the higher call of Christ, I want to divide His light from the darkness.  I want to be the changing point in the lives of everyone I meet.  I want to change this world for CHRIST.  I don't care if I'm the only one fighting for change, because "those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” (2 Kings 6:16b)  What can man do to me?  I've got Jesus on my side!

So be a light and divide this world, don't be an airplane with its light going on and off.  Don't be hot and cold for Jesus!  It's so easy to sink into the everyday routine and forget your devotions; fight it!!  An airplane is in the sky and it floats across the blackness of the night, but eventually it disappears from sight.  Do you want to disappear from sight?  Because if we are lukewarm about our duty as Christians, we will disappear without changing any lives.  Let's go out kicking!!

<3 Mik