Encouragement for the Journey . . .

"Christ be with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ deep within me. Christ below me. Christ above me, Christ at my right hand, Christ at my left hand, Christ as I lie down, Christ as I arise, Christ as I stand, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me."--The Prayer of Saint Patrick

"O, my strength, I watch for You;

You, O God, are my fortress, my loving God,

You will go before me."

Psalm 59:9-10

Pursuing Excellence or Mediocrity ~ our choice

I'm re-reading a great book right now by Cynthia Heald called, "Becoming a Woman of Excellence", put out by Navpress. The first chapter talks about pursuing excellence as a believer in Christ and what that looks like. It made me examine my own life as a believer. Do I strive for excellence or mediocrity as a wife ~ mom ~ grandmommie ~ homemaker ~ friend ~ singer ~ writer, etc. Do I pursue excellence in everything I do, or do I settle for mediocrity????? Excellence ~ giving my all with the God-given abilities that I possess or mediocrity ~ ordinary, average, doing just enough to get by. "What say you" as a national TV host says, with the many hats you wear as a woman?

The first example of a woman of excellence mentioned in the book was Ruth, the daughter-in-law of Naomi, a young Moabite woman who had recently become a widow of Naomi's son. Although encouraged by her mother-in-law to return to her own family, faithfully demonstrated her friendship, love and loyalty by choosing to stay. "But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." Ruth 1:16-17. God blessed Ruth's loyalty as she took refuge in Him and gave her a new husband named Boaz who described her as a woman of noble character or excellence. (see Ruth 2:11-12; 3:11; 4:13) God also blessed her with a son from whom His only Son would be a descendant. (see Matthew 1:5)

As I read this beautiful story of the life of Ruth and how she consistently chose what was best and gave her all, I had to admit, I fall far short. My desire is to be a woman of excellence, but I can do quite a mediocre job at times. Like most of us, I make TONS of excuses for not doing my best. Here are a few excuses I thought of for not doing my best:

• too tired
• too busy
• blame it on my circumstances
• apathy, don't care, don't feel like it.

I'm sure you can come up with your own list. What kind of example are we setting for our families? For instance, when you ask your children to complete a task, what do you expect from them? Their best or mediocrity? This is NOT about setting unrealistic goals, but helping your kids be the best they can be for their age and abilities. When we allow them to do what we've asked with the mind set of "doing enough just to get by", are we enabling them to set a pattern that will last for the rest of their lives? Something to think about for all of us.

Rather than try to come up with my own ideas of living a life of excellence, I found a few verses that describe how we can be women who give our best and teach those around us how to do the same. The best way we do this is to show them by example in our daily live and in our spiritual growth.

• 1 Corinthians 10:31
• Philippians 1:9-10
  
• Philippians 4:8
• Matthew 22:36-39
• Romans 12:1=2
• Colossians 1:9-10
• 2 Timothy 2:15-16
• Philippians 3:12-14
• Hebrews 5:11-6:1
  

Keeping a your house in order is one thing, but how would you describe the way you take care and teach those around you to take care of their "spiritual" house? Are you teaching them excellence or mediocrity? Anne Ortland says in Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman, "Your body is the flesh that clothes His Presence." What do you do to daily nourish your body? We wouldn't think of not eating physical food, but how often do we neglect feeding our "spiritual" bodies with the Word?

Don't wait, don't delay, make reading the Bible a part of your daily routine. Your kids will follow what they see. We never had to teach our sons to have a quiet time with the Lord. They saw us and followed our example. That doesn't mean we always did everything perfectly either. In fact, I wish I knew then, what I know now, but I didn't, so I'm not going to beat myself up over it and neither should you. Start where you are and begin today to treasure God's Word and make it a part of your daily routine ~ reading it ~ praying it ~ memorizing it? For me the most effective way I've found to memorize scripture is to turn it into a prayer.

One of my favorite verses is Psalm 40:8. "To do your will, O my God, is my desire; your law is within my heart." I would encourage you to take this verse and pray it for you and your family.

Lord, give me and my family (pray by name) the desire to do your will, doing the things that bring You glory. Help me (us) read your Your Word today and make it a natural part of my (our) life. Not something I (we) do out of obligation, but out of a sincere love for You. Lord, seal Your Words in my (our) heart.

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