No one ever said it was going to be easy and that it would all turn out the way that you exactly planed. "So then, why do I assume that it all will be?"

A dear friend captivated my attention for a good week with love and wisdom that came from a place of maturity that I didn't know was there. Same age as me, this person gave two truths that all would benefit greatly from!

Truth #1:

Consider your community among your greatest priorities. A pastor friend of mine always reiterated with his 200+ congregation that the first things in his life was God; second, his kids; third, his wife, and fourth, "you". Then he had the rest of his businesses, his horse ranch, his ministry projects, etc. If the man were to up and leave, or drastically change careers, it would affect more than just himself or his family or people he knew, it would affect people he didn't know and would affect the social change that he was fueling. I wonder if any of us would consider ourselves as cornerstones in some structures that we have be grafted into by our communities? Do we see what God sees for our lives, in the context of the season that we are presently in?

There is a degree of leadership that we already have which we will give an account for in our stewardship. No matter how big or small, if you take your responsibilities seriously, you will be confident enough to handle anything. If you take your role as a parent seriously, you children will later look back and realize who lucky they were that you were their mother/father. Relationships in the Kingdom of Heaven last forever and are an investment that carries over into the New Earth. How are we treating the relationships we have now, knowing that we would treat everything in Heaven as heavenly?
"The earth is the Lords and everything in it."
"What you do unto the least of these, you do unto me."

God's work is in people, and God's will manifests and is expressed through people. Our decisions on what we want to do with our lives should consider this. Otherwise, we will always live unto ourselves and remain empty.

To bring it all home, my dearly beloved friend told me, "In our conversations, I've shared with you how I consider the communities I am with (or want to be in) as the basis for where I want to live and what I desire to do. So far, all I have every heard you talk about is yourself, with no regard that the things you do would severely impact the people who love you." I never thought I could have ever been so selfish in all my life! I never really thought I was loved as such, to begin with!

Truth #2 in next blog entry.