My Rule Of Life
Monday morning.
I am grateful for my sweet family and am looking forward to Thanksgiving to spend time with the larger group of extended family. Is there anyone out there like me that loves Christmas, and thanks to the stores early promotions, kind of forgets about Thanksgiving until a couple of days before. I do that pretty frequently. As I talk to some friends and family they choose Thanksgiving as their favorite holiday because it is fun with family and good food, but without the stress of the Christmas season, presents, wrapping,...
For me Thanksgiving is just a signal that it is o.k. to start listening to Christmas music and not have to be underground about it.
----------------
I bought the audio cd of Esther this week. I needed some bible study going on in my car this past week to keep my eyes lifted during a week filled with such grief. I am on the 2nd lesson. I want to wait to do the work part of the study with my bible class friends at church when we study Esther starting in January. The lessons aren't quite as meaningful just to listen to without having done the work in scripture, but they are still good.
----------------
Today in Christian Spiritual Formation we will be meeting in the living room inside the Campus Center. We will be sharing our rule of life for ourselves with each other. It can be in song form, prayer form, a simple sentence, whatever we come up with.
Several months ago, I talked with a friend of mine who is an incredible painter who galleries up where my gallery is. We were discussing the book Same Kind Of Different As Me. I was telling her that I was considering going to Denver Moore's art studio in Dallas and purchasing a piece of his art work because it would have so much meaning to me after reading his story in the book. I never did get to go to the art gallery, but that got me thinking. What if I had Tracy paint my story. What if the meaningful in the art came from a moment in my life. So T.M. Gand (Tracy) and I met for coffee and I shared with her the morning when I gave my life back to Christ. A morning with the Arizona sun shining in my window, me falling out of my bed to kneel on the ground, the warmth of the sun and the warmth of Jesus surrounding me and holding me in a tight embrace. The moment when all my sins were forgiven because of The Cross and because I simply asked. The moment that changed the rest of my life. And the moment where I had hope for the first time in years. Tracy wrote pages of notes down, she started with a sketch, and a couple of months later with a couple of peeks along the way she presented to me a beautifully painted piece of art with my moment of submission to Christ on it. I am tearful just thinking about it.
My words that I spoke to Jesus that day were, "If you will save me from my life, I will follow you to the end of the earth, and will never turn away again." On the painting are my words "I will follow you to the end of the earth." And that is my rule of life. No matter where God calls, no matter what I am asked by Him, I will follow as long as He leads me in my path. I will not let fear or selfishness or pride...stop me from going where He has placed a call on my life. I will remember bowing to Him at the foot of my bed, and the warmth of the Spirit surrounding me forever. And now I have a beautiful painting that brings that moment to life for my children to see, and anyone who walks through the door.
I will get a digital print from her this week or next and when I do I will post it up here for you to see.
------------------
Think about your rule of life. What is your guiding influence? What do you live your life by? It could be a song or a poem or a scripture. Close your eyes and think about it. Share it with me if you feel comfortable. If you want to write about it on your blog click over and leave a link in my comments and I will link to you in a post.
Grace.Peace.Shine On
I am grateful for my sweet family and am looking forward to Thanksgiving to spend time with the larger group of extended family. Is there anyone out there like me that loves Christmas, and thanks to the stores early promotions, kind of forgets about Thanksgiving until a couple of days before. I do that pretty frequently. As I talk to some friends and family they choose Thanksgiving as their favorite holiday because it is fun with family and good food, but without the stress of the Christmas season, presents, wrapping,...
For me Thanksgiving is just a signal that it is o.k. to start listening to Christmas music and not have to be underground about it.
----------------
I bought the audio cd of Esther this week. I needed some bible study going on in my car this past week to keep my eyes lifted during a week filled with such grief. I am on the 2nd lesson. I want to wait to do the work part of the study with my bible class friends at church when we study Esther starting in January. The lessons aren't quite as meaningful just to listen to without having done the work in scripture, but they are still good.
----------------
Today in Christian Spiritual Formation we will be meeting in the living room inside the Campus Center. We will be sharing our rule of life for ourselves with each other. It can be in song form, prayer form, a simple sentence, whatever we come up with.
Several months ago, I talked with a friend of mine who is an incredible painter who galleries up where my gallery is. We were discussing the book Same Kind Of Different As Me. I was telling her that I was considering going to Denver Moore's art studio in Dallas and purchasing a piece of his art work because it would have so much meaning to me after reading his story in the book. I never did get to go to the art gallery, but that got me thinking. What if I had Tracy paint my story. What if the meaningful in the art came from a moment in my life. So T.M. Gand (Tracy) and I met for coffee and I shared with her the morning when I gave my life back to Christ. A morning with the Arizona sun shining in my window, me falling out of my bed to kneel on the ground, the warmth of the sun and the warmth of Jesus surrounding me and holding me in a tight embrace. The moment when all my sins were forgiven because of The Cross and because I simply asked. The moment that changed the rest of my life. And the moment where I had hope for the first time in years. Tracy wrote pages of notes down, she started with a sketch, and a couple of months later with a couple of peeks along the way she presented to me a beautifully painted piece of art with my moment of submission to Christ on it. I am tearful just thinking about it.
My words that I spoke to Jesus that day were, "If you will save me from my life, I will follow you to the end of the earth, and will never turn away again." On the painting are my words "I will follow you to the end of the earth." And that is my rule of life. No matter where God calls, no matter what I am asked by Him, I will follow as long as He leads me in my path. I will not let fear or selfishness or pride...stop me from going where He has placed a call on my life. I will remember bowing to Him at the foot of my bed, and the warmth of the Spirit surrounding me forever. And now I have a beautiful painting that brings that moment to life for my children to see, and anyone who walks through the door.
I will get a digital print from her this week or next and when I do I will post it up here for you to see.
------------------
Think about your rule of life. What is your guiding influence? What do you live your life by? It could be a song or a poem or a scripture. Close your eyes and think about it. Share it with me if you feel comfortable. If you want to write about it on your blog click over and leave a link in my comments and I will link to you in a post.
Grace.Peace.Shine On
Comments
That is beautiful. I cried good tears...your words are the art on the canvas of this blog.
Love & hugs,
Karise