Time to Review

Well, here it is, the latter part of April, and I feel the need to revisit my life verses for this year.  In case--like me--you need a review of them, here they are:  

2 Corinthians 8:10-12 New King James Version

And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have. For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.

Hmn.  I purposed to finish things I had started previously this year when I first took these verses as mine.  Have I?  Have I accomplished any, some, part, or a portion of my projects or have they been pushed to the back of the closet, under the rug, in a drawer, or filed in that “One Day I Will Get To These” folders that I seem to have so many of?

In one area, getting my blogs ready for publication, yes:  I have had some success with them.  I worked diligently for weeks on them and have some ready to share with my adoring public!  Go Stef!  The thing about doing that, though, is that there is just so much more I want to do with them and it’s quite the chore.  I get too distracted by this part needs to change and that picture doesn’t quite work, and ooh:  gotta edit that one for a few things.  It has proven to be an endless task yet I have enjoyed the time spent on it.

Okay, then, let’s move on.  What else have I started that is not completed?  Pictures!  Uh oh.  So many need to be put into books, scrapped into lovely keepsakes, and many just need to be organized.  I feel tired already from the thoughts of what needs to be done to get this assignment completed.

Maybe I should concentrate instead then on the spiritual things that I started that need fine-tuned before they are ready to be tried by the fire.  Have I been a better scholar of the Bible?  Ummm, yes?  Sort of?  At times!  While there is no regularity to my mode of study, there is a more precise way of using the time I take to get into the Word. My handwriting has gotten a little better so I am actually able (mostly) to read the notes I write.  And the journals themselves are in better order so there’s not so much seeking for just where it is that I wrote that in them.

Let’s re-read the verses and see if I get a gold star today or if I need to be put in front of the teacher’s desk for more supervision.  

It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have. For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.

I was just about to feel defeated when I looked and, yep, there it is, the last sentence.  Those words “for if there is first a willing mind…”  Did you catch that?  If there is FIRST a willing mind.  Woohoo!  My mind is willing!  I win!  

Welll, I don’t actually get a prize but...but I don’t have to be so hard on myself.  I don’t have to quit before I get started--yes, again.  I don’t have to feel defeated when there is so much to accomplish and not enough willpower to sustain my purposes. “It is accepted” the verse tells me.  Accepted!  How many times has “rejected” been the word used about my efforts instead of accepted?  I like that one so much better, don’t you?

Okay, let me conclude on this good note and offer some encouragement to you, friends.  Too often we just don’t even try because the mountain seems immovable.  We look at the stack of work ahead of us (whether it’s paper work of various things such as bills, letters, to-do lists, or if it’s stacks of dishes and/or laundry, toys that seem to be everywhere, or what have you) and we sigh, look the other direction, and hope it magically goes away.  Then after a while when we come back, it’s still there, still needing tended to, still waiting to be completed.  We sigh again and lose our joy.   

It doesn’t have to be this way.  Now, hold on:  I’m not saying we don’t have to complete because Lord knows, we do.  We each have a race to run and a purpose to fulfill.  However, we don’t have to do it all in one day.  We couldn’t if we wanted to, realistically.  What our Good Lord looks on is our heart and the motives found in it.  When we try to honor Him with intentions that line up with His, we will be successful.  As I’ve written a few times before, we can either be done or well-done at the end.  Which do you choose, my friends?

Let’s pray!

Dear Lord, so often I start one thing and then move onto another and then chase that rabbit and then that squirrel and before You know it, I need a nap because I have exhausted myself without really accomplishing anything.  You above all people know this and You know it makes me feel like a failure too often.

Father?  I need some discipline in my life.  I need to not have so much chaos and focus on one thing at a time, giving it my all instead of my meager part.  I’m lazy and my follow-through is lacking.  Help me, I ask, to stop, to slow down, and to only take on what can be handled at any given moment.  My plans are many and my vision is wide but my achieving leaves much to be desired.  Grant me tunnel vision in my endeavors, Lord, so that I may do them well rather than leaving too many uncompleted projects lying around, gathering dust.  I want to please You with my works, Father.  Nudge me, I pray, to control my self and my selfish desires and instead to focus on the things that need to be finished.  In Christ’s name I pray:  amen.