How To Be Wise (Part 14)

I can't believe it's Friday already. I've decided that I blog about as well as I do exercise regiments; I start strong; however, it's not long before I begin to get a little lackadaisical and my motivation wavers. Why is that? I guess it's like a lot of different things that you try to do on a regular basis, such as, praying or reading your Bible or even going to church. The effects are gradual instead of instantaneous. It takes time to see what affect you're having. Only after a couple of months of steady discipline do you realize the change.

Anyway, there's just a couple of verses I want to point out from this chapter:

• Verse 4, "An empty stable stays clean, but no income comes from an empty stable." Have you ever been to a church that is spotless, but has very little people, specifically young people. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for organization and keeping things clean, but not at the extreme where we turn people away because they are messy. Let's face it, kids are messy: they mess up walls; they poke holes in chairs (which drives me insane); they think the floor of the church van is their personal trash can. My son James makes messes all the time, but there's no way I would trade him for a perfectly clean house. I love him too much. Maybe that's what it boils down to. Maybe some people love their building more than they love souls. (OUCH! Did I just say that?) Thank the Lord that's not the case at my church. Even though our students can be "messy" at times, I love them too much to turn them away. (Our students are the best in the world by the way! I'm not trying to put them down by any means. ) Moreover, God loves them just as they are and has sent them here to be shown His love. I just pray He finds us reliable stewards of all He has given us.
• Verse 12, "There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death." Not only are there obvious eternal implications in this verse, but I believe there is also temporal significance. How many of us make choices regularly based on our personal feelings. Generally it's the path of least resistance we decide must be the right one. So often, however, it's the struggle or the uphill climb of a different direction that brings the most reward and satisfaction. How many times have we settled for "good enough" when "great" was just over the next mountain?

May you choose the mess over an empty house. May you never settle for "good enough." May you never choose the path of least resistance just so you don't have get your hands dirty. Why not be great!? Why not go all the way to the top? It's at the top we have the best view of what God has brought us through and accomplished because we were willing do all He has asked of us.

Great Quote

I had to write about this quote. It comes from the movie Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium.

"Life is an occasion, rise to it!"

How many of us get so busy with the mundane and monotonous aspects of life that we forget to truly seize the moments we're given. Erwin McManus, in his book, Chasing Daylight, states, "I am convinced the great tragedy is not the sins we commit, but the life that we fail to live...There are few things more inspiring than a life lived with passionate clarity." Am I rising to the occasion or am I satisfied with the mundane? I want my life to count for something. I want to live passionately instead of passively.

So much of life is wasted on repetitious reactions to societies suggestion of what it means to be truly alive. All the while, we remain passive to the true purpose for which we were put here on the earth. God wants to interrupt our average everyday existence longing for something more and give us a life we could only dream of: a life of passion, a life of purpose, a life of meaning. It's time for me to stop sleepwalking through life. It's time to wake up! It's time for me to rise to the occasion of life before I miss the God-given opportunities set before me.