😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength. – Phillipians 4:11-12
These two verses were from last Sunday’s second reading. Pondering these verses in conjunction with different seasons of my life, I have indeed lived through what I thought were times in need and times of plenty. My perspective in these different moments certainly played a factor in how I lived out these situations. There were a good number of years that were struggles, without the knowledge or commitment to moving out of them. Then there were seven years of struggling on purpose, with a plan for financial prosperity.
God has been with me through it all. In every struggle, He showed me the way out. Did I always take His suggestion? No! If I would have, I wouldn’t have struggled so much.
When you’re in a relationship, the decisions are no longer yours alone. When you have a family depending on you, the decisions are no longer for you alone. In reality, your decisions have never been and will never be for you alone. Every single decision we make starts a ripple effect.
Give this a try. Pick a situation in your past or maybe focus on a decision that you are currently faced with. Talk yourself through the different options you could select in that scenario. Brian and I were doing this on the drive home from work yesterday.
How does your decision directly affect those immediately around you? Now, take that ripple out a few waves. How does your decision directly affect the people immediately around those, that are immediately around you? This could be easy to see within families. But what about at work? Even people you don’t know are affected by your decisions and actions. Do you think the person texting while driving stops to think about the person driving behind them, before they started messaging with their phone while driving and caused an accident? How will the ripple affect wash over the friends and family members of the person in the accident?
Some ripples are easy to see, but some are more subtle. Every one of our decisions has an effect on others, which is why it’s so important to have a conversation with God before we act. We were never made to do life alone. From the very beginning, we were made to be in communion with the Lord (Father, Son and Spirit) and those He gave us to share His creation with. How is God calling you to be a ripple for Him?
Bless others and be blessed.
Shelly :0)
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#TaurenWells – Citizen of Heaven
