February 17

“God is not interested in receiving secondhand glory from our activity.  God receives glory from His activity through our lives....Resist the temptation to pursue your own goals, asking God to bless them.  Rather, deny yourself and join the activity of God as He reveals it to you.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 2/17

We are in the middle of a blizzard here in Maryland.  I think there is about three feet of snow outside my window.  Even though my cupboards are well-stocked and I had no place I needed to be I still found myself feeling anxious when I awoke this morning.  I think it must be part of that syndrome of wanting something just because you’ve been told you can’t have it.  In this case, it’s the freedom to go where and when I want to--if I should decide I wanted or needed to go somewhere.  Blackaby’s admonition to resist the temptation to pursue my own goals is being illustrated to me by this snow storm.  I have no choice but to give up my plans or any plans I may have wanted to make and instead join in God’s plans for me the next few days.  My focus will be on getting dug out and making myself available to my neighbors if they should need help. The Lord has set my agenda for the next several days.  Now, if I can keep this mindset after I’ve regained my freedom to come and go as I please......

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain’; whereas you do not know about tomorrow.  What is your life?  For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that.”  James 4:13-15