What significance do you seek?
What purpose do you pursue?
What destiny do you chase?
Where are your passions?
Where is your calling?
Do you even know?
Do you even care?
Will you go?
Will you?
Now?
Penned – MG – 10/22/19
pursuit
Do Something!
Well, that about sums it up.
Seriously.
The Pursuant
Reading Jonah 2, it becomes clear to me that God is a God of pursuant love. His love is not stagnant. He doesn’t just “sit around” and wait on us to seek Him. He places things all around us to turn our hearts toward Him. He allows things to happen in our lives that would cause us to look to Him once again.
He pursues us with His love. He longs for us to be with Him. He yearns to have a conversation with us, a moment of communion, a friendship. He sent His Holy Spirit to be with us when He ascended to heaven that He might draw our hearts back to Him when we stray from Him.
It makes me wonder, how much do we pursue Him in this way? Do we only think about Him when it comes church time and prayer time over the meal? Do we only think of Him when we are in trouble and in distress, because, after all, He is a ‘God of answers’ and a ‘God of help?’
He longs for so much more from us. He pursues us, because He wants our hearts as well as our hands. He can catch our hands so easily. It’s easy to catch your child’s hand when they’re young, when they need help after a tumble, and when you need to stop them from running in the street.
However, it’s harder to catch the heart of your teen when they desperately long for independence and have so many new avenues to find that freedom. It’s even harder to win the heart of your grown child if you didn’t quite master the task in their younger years, and now they’ve grown beyond their need for what you have to offer. You have to get more creative, and they have to be willing to come back to you. They, also, have to realize time spent with you is more valuable than they once imagined it might be.
I believe we have this same tendency toward our Heavenly Father. When we first get saved, He is all we think about, all we talk about. We pursue a relationship with Him. Yet, as life moves forward, the responsibilities pull on us, and the priorities of this world knock down our door, we set Him aside for brighter, easier days. We forget about that relationship we once had when we daily communed with Him. We set Him to the side as we pursue the approval of man and the kind words of a friend. We, now, wait till we are in distress to call on His name.
But oh, the sweetness of walking with Him day by day. Oh the joy we miss when we put Him aside. What countless burdens we carry when we do not share them with Him. What needless turmoil we invite when we don’t allow Him in.
He’s still there where you left Him. Seek Him out today. You will find Him. He promised that when you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him.
YouVersion
In Hot Pursuit
“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:8
Did you know Gid pursues us with His love? He surrounds us with beauty everyday so that we might think of Him. He sends good things our way so that we might remember Him. Even in trials and tribulations, even in the smallest things, people have testified time and again of the goodness of the Lord. We just have to open our eyes to see it.
Why does He do this? He pursues us with His love, because He longs for us to be with Him. He longs to walk with us, to talk with us, to have a friendship, a deep relationship with us. He longs to be reunited with us.
How much do we pursue Him in this way? Do we only think about Him when it comes church time and prayer time over the meal? Do we only think of Him when we are in trouble or in distress, because, after all, He is a God of wisdom and a God of answers. He’s a God of refuge and help.
He pursues us, because He wants our hearts as well as our hands. He can catch our hands easily. It’s easy to catch your child’s hand when they’re young, when they need help after a tumble, or when you need to stop them from running in the street. However, it’s harder to catch the hand of your teen when they desperately long for independence and have so many new avenues to find that freedom. It’s even harder to win the heart of your grown child if you didn’t quite master the task in their younger years.
Too often, I believe we have this same tendency toward our Heavenly Father. When we first get saved, He is all we think about, all we talk about. We pursue a relationship with Him. Yet, as life moves forward, the responsibilities pull on us, and the priorities of life knock down our door, we set Him aside for brighter, easier days. We forget about that relationship we once had when we communed daily with Him. We wait till we are in distress to call on His name.
But oh, the sweetness of walking with Him day by day. Oh the joy we miss when He’s put aside.
He’s still there where you left Him. Seek Him out today. You will find Him. He promised when you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him.
Wednesday’s Ode #6
Today, I would like to give my tribute to America. Yes, the land of the free and the home of the brave. I love my home, America.
There are many in this world who would scoff at those words, many who would sneer at my homeland, believing they would be better off without it. Yet, for those who long for freedom, those held under tight regimental control, where do their hearts long to go? Where do their dreams take them when they think of freedom? Yes, it is AMERICA! This land was chosen to be a place where “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”* This is the land of the free and the brave. This country was founded on freedom, on liberty and on the pursuit of happiness. For those who live in this land and get angry at these words, I truly wonder why they still live here! Why stay in a country that you so clearly hate? However, I digress. This post today is not meant to be a rant. It is meant to be a tribute; so, let me pay honor where honor is due! 😉
I LOVE this land of freedom! I can worship freely. I can go where I please. I can do as I please (within the laws of reason). I can choose to pursue whatever course in life I’d like. I can be whomever I choose to be. If I want to be a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, a construction worker, a CEO, a fireman, a retail salesperson, or even a fast food worker, I can be any of these. If I want to pursue a life long dream of singing or a momentary whim of sailing across the ocean, I can do it. The only things that will stop me is my own limitations of dreaming and my own will power to pursue those dreams. This is the beauty of freedom.
Yes, I know we’ve got our problems. I’m not blind. I know there’s people who don’t appreciate this land nor the people who work hard to make it what it is, but that’s not my point today. Sometimes, you’ve got to step out of the darkness to truly see the light again. Often, we must re-shift our focus when there’s so much turmoil and remember the reason we got in this to begin with. This country was founded for freedom. This country was founded on hard work and pride in a nation of diversity and respect for the pursuit of a dream. These are the things upon which this country was built. Let’s get back to the main thing! Sometimes, I wonder if we’ve forgotten the goodness and wonder in the dream of a better future, because we’ve gotten so entangled in the futuristic dream someone else said we should have… (another thought for another day!)
I LOVE this land of beauty! There is an “old” song, sung by Lee Greenwood, that perfectly sums up my love for the beautiful land called America. He says, “From the lakes of Minnesota, To the hills of Tennessee, Across the plains of Texas, From sea to shining sea, From Detroit down to Houston, And New York to L.A., Where’s pride in every American heart, And it’s time we stand and say, God Bless the USA!” The beauty of this land is as diverse as the people who live here. If you long for snow, just travel north long enough, and you’ll find it. If the beach is more your style, just travel South, you’ll find it. Maybe green rolling “hills” (this term is relative to what you call a hill or a mountain) and Shenandoah Valleys are more your speed, or maybe you prefer peaks as high as the clouds, and tree as big as a house or maybe it’s beautiful plains that stretch for as far as the eye can see. Well, we’ve got it all, just find a map and start your travels! America is where it’s at! No matter, if you’re looking for the city and the night life or the ranch and the country life. It’s all here in this great big land of opportunity!
So, today, I call myself BLESSED to be an American, and I consider myself blessed to be living here in this wonderful land of the free! These are just a few reasons I love this wonderful place! There’s nowhere else I’d rather be. Who’s with me?? 🙂
*Declaration of Independence (found here)
the grizzle grist mill 