Saturday, January 3, 2009

Read, Love, Pray

I'm not one to make resolutions or set silly goals such as love more, eat less, and enjoy life; however, all three of which would be great start to a new year. I have recently thought about the things I try to do the most and continue to fail or fall short of the deeper meaning of said things, and I want to share them with you.

resolve (verb) - to transform or convert by any process

I thought this definition was interesting because the other definitions actually lead to either disintegration or breaking down of something. Yet, most people often "resolve" to make themselves better. So, in turn, I guess to make ourselves better we must break down all the things around us that are either meaningless or unfruitful. (I could write an entire blog of this definition but I choose not.)

1. Read. More.

I want to expand my mind thru books, especially the Bible and books about men of the Bible or great scholars of it. My mind often is too perplexed to simply be able to read scripture and comprehend it even the third and fourth time of repeating it. And, how elementary it may sound, repition is the number one tool in memorization of anything and the chances of my recalling key scriptures in trials and hardships are greater.

2. Love. Fully.

This day in age, love is such a fleeting term and we as humans destroy our emotions by saying we "love" things or how much we really "love" this or that. I want to really evaluate how I treat people such as my family, co-workers, even strangers. And it all starts with my love for Jesus. The more I feel connected to Him through His word or His speaking to me through His spirit, the better I feel I can serve Him and love Him. And the closer I feel to Him, the more His love can shine in my actions and especially my attitude.

3. Pray. Heartily.

Prayer is the number one thing I feel like I need more in my life. My prayer life is my number one indicator of how close to God I am, and how close I am letting Him be to me. Your relationships with those around you is only as close and as great as you allow it to be.
And like my brother, Jon, oft times I feel my mind wandering while I am pleading my case for mercy and understanding to my Creator and Savior.

Happy New Year!

also, I need a great way of getting my blog to more readers. I feel like the more readers I have, the more dedicated and committed I will be to my blog in the following months. any ideas?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey D! Great post, I've never thought about resolve like that...I love your thoughts on read, love, pray...I had a pastor that said when your mind wanders during prayer to follow it and pray about whatever you start thinking about...I do this and am sometimes surprised at where my mind takes me...often times to things that really needed attention in the first place :)
Just a thought!
Also on blog traffic, visiting other blogs (you're interested in)faithfully and commenting faithfully will establish a relationship with the blogger and with all their other readers...I've noticed that I see a person commenting on a blog I follow and I like their comments and eventually I click over to check out their blog...It's a process but it's worth it 'cause you can make some great friends...also if you link twitter to facebook and post your blogaddress with your topic during a time when lots of your friends are logged into facebook, your friends will click over! These are things I've done! I somehow missed your adorable Gingerbread pics...just saw them :)
I'll pray for you and your read,love,pray this year...
(This is the longest comment I've ever left on a blog! Sorry)

Jon Smith said...

Good stuff! Robin has given you loads of ideas on blog traffic, so I'll leave that to the experts.

I also like Robin's advice from a pastor about following your thoughts. My problem is that usually my thoughts are "I need to take out the trash" or "I forgot to do this at work" or "I wonder if I have an email on my blackberry." It might be interesting to follow these thoughts... Good stuff.

Michael Smith said...

As far as reading goes: if you want to just take the plunge, I would say wrestle through "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis. If you want a little lighter read to build up some momentum, try "The Screwtape Letters" - again by Lewis.

Either way, with C.S. Lewis you can't go very wrong.

Jon Smith said...

I agree with Michael. C.S. Lewis is always a good read. I also have "Peace Like a River" by Leif Enger that you can borrow when I'm finished. It's fantastic!