Keep in God's Light

Wow! I can't believe it has been that long since I last did a blog. But the blog record does not lie and it says July 19. Joyce and I just returned from a 16 day trip that included West Allis, WI. Palos Heights IL. Spirit Lake IA. Branson MO and Des Moines IA. These stops included the Seitz family, the Dykstra family, Joyce's nursing class reunion at Lake Okoboji, Mike and Dorothy's cabin on Little Spirit Lake (which included a trip to Sheldon to see Bob and Helene along with Evan and Linda), our seminary classmate get together in Branson, and Ed & Dixie Murphy/Jim and Kathy Hoss. We leave again Tuesday noon to go watch Juliana's volleyball team play at Trinity Christian College. From there we drive again to West Allis to do grandparents' day at Maya's school and will return home again on Saturday afternoon. Our schedule seems crazy at the moment but we need to do these travels while we can. After next week we should be home for a few weeks as far as I can tell though Emma or Juliana's volleyball may beckon us back to Palos Heights.

Now for a little spiritual enrichment which is what this blog is to be about.

"You can never measure what God will do through you if you are rightly related to Jesus Christ. Keep your relationship right with Him, then whatever circumstance you are in, and whoever you meet day by day, He is pouring rivers of living water through you, and it is of His mercy that He does not let you know it. When once yopu are rightly related to God by salvation and sanctification, remember that wherever you are, you are put there by God; and by the reaction of your life on the circumstances around you, you will fulfill God's purpose, as long as you keep in the light as God is in the light. The tendency today is to put the emphasis on service. Beware of the people who make usefulness their ground of appeal. If you make usefulness the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure that ever lived. The lodestar of the saint is God Himself, not estimated usefulness. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him. All that our Lord heeds in a man's [woman's] life is the relationship of worth to His Father. Jesus is bringing many sons/daughters to glory."  (Oswald Chambers)

Richard Rohr, spiritual director and author states that "as we grow older we tend to become control freaks. We need to control everybody and everything, moment by moment, to be happy. If the now has never been full or sufficient, we will always be grasping, even addictive or obsessive. If you're pushing yourself and others around, you have not yet found the secret of happiness. It's okay as it is. This moment is as perfect as it can be. The saints called it the 'sacrament of the present moment.'"

So I pray that I might mot be a control freak but a person who can enjoy the present moment and live in the joy and peace of God who is with me in every moment.