Invest Time to Develop The Future You, Now!

Today, I was praying to God that my life might be significant for His Kingdom, and then praying that it might give glory to Him. However, upon further reflection (today I’m staying home and right now kicking back near out outdoor fountain), it seems that those things are out of my control.

I can certainly continue to pray for them. But, more immediately and in my perceived control, is that I can focus my available time on being the FULLY developed human being that God intended me to be.

I can determine what that might be by looking at the talents, experiences and blessing that I currently have. For example, I was blessed with children; and so I need to be a better parent. I’ve been blessed to be an attorney. I need to be a better one. I was born with artistic talent. Should I allow that to go dormant?  From here on out, I vow to consciously spend more time and focused attention on the things that are within my power, namely improving through investments of time the things I already have.

Where that takes me, is up to God.

We have a lizard freeway in our back yard.

It’s fun to be on my back patio in the morning and then later in the afternoon. This is because everyday lizards, at close but differing intervals, in the morning race from North to South across patio flagstones and past a waterfall fountain to a small two-inch gap below the beige wooden gate to the side-yard of bugs and bushes beyond. It’ a morning commute and it’s very day, seemingly like clockwork.

In the morning, I usually only first notice them when they’re already on the ground running. But later in the day, when they’re on their return (a reverse of the route in the morning), I’m not only a witness to their individual races of starts, stops and lizard pushups, but I’m also now delighted by their two-foot leaps from the ground at the end of the yard to the raised planter and then, with another jump, to the white stucco wall and vertical climb towards home - their work day of sunshine and eating bugs now done.

The work day of hunting for bugs and enjoying the sun is done – until tomorrow.

From our current vantage point we may look back to when humans were abused or sacrificed at alters of hoped for increases in prosperity or ease as something of a dark and distant past. We may think the persons or people groups who perpetrated such things as ignorant or unenlightened. Yet, are we not also engaging in the same or similar misguided heinous acts but on a much larger scale? After all, we are, collectively at least, the purveyors, promoters and profiteers of abortion! We have elevated this blood crime to a purported basic legal right and are now then also living with the tragic consequences of unknown lost friends, spouses, grandchildren, innovators and tax payers and the cheapening of all human life.

Loving Waters

At our new home we have a backyard waterfall fountain. The water cascade is about two feet wide and tumbles down a vertical wall of stacked slabs of sandstone and into an elevated shallow pool.

At one point this afternoon, because of the overhead position of the Sun, all of the tumbling steams of water were shaded - except one. One water course was hitting a rock and going a bit further out and catching the light. It looked like a stream of diamonds.

It got me to thinking, that we too could step out from shadows and catch, radiate, reflect and shine with the light of our God.

The Bible often talks about water. Here is quote from John 4:13-14:
"Jesus said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this [well] water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I give will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give [to those who ask] will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'"

May the springs that flow from us be filled with the light of God and be a blessing to others.