Stretching My Spirit

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..

OK, are you ready? Please give me your best five minutes on:::

Stretch…

Most mornings when I wake up, I stretch--my arms above my head, my back, my legs.  It's a way of readying my body for a new day, transitioning from sleeping to wakefulness.  It tells my body what my brain already knows: It's time to get up, start moving, start the things that need to be done today.

What if I stretched my spirit, too?

I confess, my spiritual habits have been lacking lately.  I do devotions with my husband every single morning--I read the Scripture passages, sometimes nearly a whole chapter, he reads the devotion, and we pray together.  But I haven't been reading my Bible on my own much recently.  And my first thoughts in the morning aren't always prayer.

This morning my husband and I both woke up feeling way better than we had when we went to sleep.  So my first thought was this morning, "Thank you, Jesus, for helping us feel better!"  I was singing the Doxology in my head when I went to make breakfast.

But it's not always that way.  I wish it were.

Exercise of the body takes discipline.

So does exercise of the mind--or of the spirit.

It will take discipline for me to remember to stretch myself spiritually each morning, and throughout each day.

But I know that's something God wants me to do.  So when I pray and ask for his strength, his courage, and his help to do so--I know he'll answer that prayer.  God wants me to be closer to him, and I know he'll help me as I seek to approach him more and in a deeper way.

Stretching my body feels so good every morning.  I know stretching my spirit will be even better.

Linking up today with:

Lisa-Jo Baker (of course, with FMF); Your Thriving Family; Consider the Lilies; finding joy; Susan Godfrey

Quality Time

This weekend Hubby and I have been a little bit (shh!) lazy.  Granted, I've been fairly busy in the kitchen--blueberry muffins, homemade pizza, and for supper tonight the good ol' meat and potatoes (and salad).  The house is in (fairly) good order.  :)  But we have spent a lot of time just being together, being us.  Friday we made the half-hour drive to Lincoln on one errand, which ended up not working out, but we did go out to eat at Applebee's as planned.  It was a fabulous meal, and we decided to take a back road home for the scenery.  Unfortunately, we met with a road block, which meant we had to turn around and drive fifteen minutes back the way we'd come to get to a different route home.  It was okay, though, because it was a beautiful night for a drive.  And it was so good for us to be able to talk--first at the restaurant, we talked about that book I'm reading (Sacred Marriage, see this post).  Then on the ride home, we had no TV, no computers, no radio, no phone--nothing distracting us from just being us.  It was bonding time like we hadn't had in a while.  Saturday was...similar...good couple time.  :)

We've been learning a lot more about each other, how to love each other, how to understand each other.  Marriage really is a constant learning process, which makes it constantly interesting.  I will never, ever know everything about my husband!  There's something new to discover every day.

It's like that with God (here I go again, making those marriage-God connections!).  We will never be able to fully understand God (not till we get to heaven, anyway).  There is so much in His Word that we can't take it all in if we were to spend our entire lives studying and meditating on Scripture.  God desires for us to know him intimately, even more than we know our spouse.  As I seek each day to know my husband more, I pray that I will be as inspired to seek to know God more, in prayer, in His word, and in quietly being in his presence.

Advent: He is Coming!

I remember when, as a child, I would wait excitedly for a guest to arrive.  Sometimes it would be my grandparents, sometimes my friends.  I would clean the house, make myself look nice, and sit in the living room ready to greet whoever was coming.

We prepare to greet honored guests all the time.  It's exciting when we're expecting a special person to arrive.  But do we realize that a person more honored and special than anyone on earth is coming?  At the very end of Revelation, Jesus said, "I am coming soon."  At the end of time, when God decides, Jesus will come again in glory and take believers to heaven with him.  We don't know when he is coming, but we will know it when he arrives.

Just as I prepared excitedly for family or friends to visit, we have the opportunity to prepare for Jesus' arrival on the last day.  A clean house won't matter very much, nor will nice clothes or combed hair.  But there are things we can do to prepare.  In Romans, Paul encourages his readers to be awake and ready for Jesus' appearing.  He writes,
"The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.  The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.  So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.  Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.  Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."  (Romans 13:11-14)

We are living in the end times right now.  They began when Jesus ascended into heaven and promised his disciples that he would return someday.  The next great event in God's plan of salvation is to send his Son back again.  That is what we are waiting for.

The season of Advent leads up to Christmas; it's the beginning of the church year.  During Advent we remember how Mary and Joseph waited for Jesus to be born.  That was the Messiah's first coming.  In these last days, it is also a time to remind ourselves that Jesus is coming again and to be prepared.

Today, I am going to remember to live in anticipation of Jesus' second coming, and to wait on him: for he is coming!