This weekend my wife and I celebrated our fifth anniversary, and it was awesome! We went out to dinner, then to the movies, got a hotel room, slept in, went to brunch, saw another movie, and just enjoyed the whole day together! It's not often, being parents, that we get to do that, and it got me thinking.
Have I been the husband that I want to be over the last five years? Am I a living reality of the dream that my wife has had in her heart since she was a little girl? Is there ever a day, much less a minute, that my wife doesn't know and feel the love that I have for her? What do I want the next five years of my marriage to look like?
They say with age comes wisdom (though I'm not sure it's true for everyone--ha!). However, one gem that I've learned thus far is that God has entrusted to us all an amazing level of control over our own destiny. He makes the plan, but it's up to us to choose it, embrace it, and pursue it. The same holds true in the married relationship.
Happily ever after doesn't just happen, but I believe it can and it should! What we don't always realize is that it takes a conscious, tenacious determination on our part to choose marriage, embrace it, and pursue our spouse like we're not really married. That means choosing love when you don't "feel" it, giving to your spouse even when your needs aren't being met, and keeping short accounts of fallouts (not letting stuff simmer and sour).
I want the next five years of my married life to be even more amazing than the first five. I want to be a better husband to my wife, father to my son, servant of Christ and the church. I know it won't just happen, but I'm ready and willing to do the work to get there. Are you?
Monday, June 25, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Get Dirty
I've spent the better part of today trying to replace the two feet of PVC pipe that lines the holes for our church banner signposts. I've broken three drain spades, I'm soaked in sweat (it's like 90 today), and I've got mud caked under my fingernails that smells like the elephant cage at the zoo. Ya know that sewer smell that you don't just smell, you feel? Yeah...it's that smell.
Anyhow, when I broke the third shovel, I was not feeling particularly pleasant, nor was I inclined to behave the way a Christian probably should. However, in the back of my mind was a voice whispering little bits of wisdom like, "it's all for Christ" and, "God sees your efforts" and "don't chuck the rest of that shovel out into traffic."
Even though I know it's true that God sees all and takes notice of everything in our lives, those moments of time serve as micro-tests of our faith, as well as what's in our hearts. I gotta be honest--when I heard the wood crackle and break on that third shovel, there was more stuff stirring in my heart than just "God" thoughts! Proverbs 14:23 says, "In ALL labor there is profit," but sometimes it just doesn't feel like it!
Sometimes you do all you can, get diry doin' it, and it still doesn't come together like you hoped or planned. But the simple truth is this: God is much more interested in the motivation of our hearts than he is in the sum of our results.
Good thing...I still didn't get the posts up!
Anyhow, when I broke the third shovel, I was not feeling particularly pleasant, nor was I inclined to behave the way a Christian probably should. However, in the back of my mind was a voice whispering little bits of wisdom like, "it's all for Christ" and, "God sees your efforts" and "don't chuck the rest of that shovel out into traffic."
Even though I know it's true that God sees all and takes notice of everything in our lives, those moments of time serve as micro-tests of our faith, as well as what's in our hearts. I gotta be honest--when I heard the wood crackle and break on that third shovel, there was more stuff stirring in my heart than just "God" thoughts! Proverbs 14:23 says, "In ALL labor there is profit," but sometimes it just doesn't feel like it!
Sometimes you do all you can, get diry doin' it, and it still doesn't come together like you hoped or planned. But the simple truth is this: God is much more interested in the motivation of our hearts than he is in the sum of our results.
Good thing...I still didn't get the posts up!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Everything You Want!
I'm a PK...translation=Preacher's Kid. That means I literally cut my teeth on the pew, grew up knowing the "inside scoop" on church life, and was ingrained with the Christianese language (a mode of spoken communication only understood by long-term believers). Wow--I just realized that I am in fact bi-lingual...I've gotta start putting that on my resume!
Anyhow, growing up in church, my favorite Scripture became Psalm 37:4 - "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." I figured hey, I'm already in this church thing and I believe in Jesus, so this is telling me that I can just keep being a good little church boy and then God will give me everything I want...SWEET! I started a running list: a Lamborghini Countach (red), the helicopter from Airwolf, the Fall Guy's girlfriend (Heather Thomas, I think).
Needless to say, I don't drive a car that's worth more than my house and I'm not married to the co-star of an '80's mini-series (in fact, I married much better). I figured either God didn't like me much, or there was something wrong with my Biblical interpretation. Knowing God to be pretty incredible in the love department, I decided that I was at fault, and had to relinquish my hopes of being a self-prayed super hero.
That verse is still my favorite, but it means something entirely different to me today. I realize now that if we all got what we asked for, the world would be pretty jacked up (not to mention the fact that there's no way Lamborghini could keep up with demand). I think that our focus needs to be on the first half: "Delight yourself in the Lord." If we find our identity, our purpose, and our fulfillment in God, then the second half will ring true: "and he will give you the desires of your heart." He knows us better than we know ourselves--knows what will hurt us, what will excite us, what will fulfill us. When we choose Him and open our hearts to Him, He's then able to transplant our wrong desires with right ones. We find ourselves wanting different things that we did before (although a Countach would still be sweet to have).
It's pretty amazing how God can change your heart from just wanting for yourself to wanting for others. To go from dreaming only about your own life to being possessed to influence the lives of others. And then to realize that not only has God remade your heart, not only has He given you brand new desires, but now He's going to grant those new desires that He put inside of you...that's stinkin' AWESOME man!! You get to experience the fulfillment of your dreams--the dreams that count for something beyond this life, the dreams that you didn't just come up with on your own, the dreams that bring true joy and meaning to earthly existence.
That's my two-cents for today...and ya know what--my first blog ever! Hope you didn't fall asleep.
Anyhow, growing up in church, my favorite Scripture became Psalm 37:4 - "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." I figured hey, I'm already in this church thing and I believe in Jesus, so this is telling me that I can just keep being a good little church boy and then God will give me everything I want...SWEET! I started a running list: a Lamborghini Countach (red), the helicopter from Airwolf, the Fall Guy's girlfriend (Heather Thomas, I think).
Needless to say, I don't drive a car that's worth more than my house and I'm not married to the co-star of an '80's mini-series (in fact, I married much better). I figured either God didn't like me much, or there was something wrong with my Biblical interpretation. Knowing God to be pretty incredible in the love department, I decided that I was at fault, and had to relinquish my hopes of being a self-prayed super hero.
That verse is still my favorite, but it means something entirely different to me today. I realize now that if we all got what we asked for, the world would be pretty jacked up (not to mention the fact that there's no way Lamborghini could keep up with demand). I think that our focus needs to be on the first half: "Delight yourself in the Lord." If we find our identity, our purpose, and our fulfillment in God, then the second half will ring true: "and he will give you the desires of your heart." He knows us better than we know ourselves--knows what will hurt us, what will excite us, what will fulfill us. When we choose Him and open our hearts to Him, He's then able to transplant our wrong desires with right ones. We find ourselves wanting different things that we did before (although a Countach would still be sweet to have).
It's pretty amazing how God can change your heart from just wanting for yourself to wanting for others. To go from dreaming only about your own life to being possessed to influence the lives of others. And then to realize that not only has God remade your heart, not only has He given you brand new desires, but now He's going to grant those new desires that He put inside of you...that's stinkin' AWESOME man!! You get to experience the fulfillment of your dreams--the dreams that count for something beyond this life, the dreams that you didn't just come up with on your own, the dreams that bring true joy and meaning to earthly existence.
That's my two-cents for today...and ya know what--my first blog ever! Hope you didn't fall asleep.
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