Days 13-5

It\’s amazing how madness attempts to intervene. 

Best laid plans, and all that. My intent was to do a daily post, but this blog had other ideas. Some days, I couldn\’t get to a page to type anything. Other days, I could get here but couldn\’t post what I\’d written. So here I am, trying to cram nine days into one.

Forgive?

Jeremiah 3:12

2 Corinthians 1:11

Genesis 14:22-23

Ezekiel 36:26

2 Timothy 1:12

2 Peter 1:3

1 Corinthians 11:24

Exodus 33:7, 9

Job 1:21

Here are the dots to connect:

• fellowship …
• prayer …
• temptation …
• spiritual checkup …
• surrender …
• overcoming …
• freedom …
• expectation …
• gratitude …

I need all of these.

I push myself into fellowship, despite my in-born desire to stand over there, to not engage, to not let people in. 

I need to pray for others and to be prayed for because temptation is at every footstep — sure, during a time of fasting, that stale piece of bread on the table looks like a T-bone steak, but more than that: the temptation to gossip, to backbite, to just be downright nasty? Yep. 

I need to pause, focus on the Creator, and check myself — not just my mouth but my spirit: am I on a good track? am I justifying my snark instead of owning it for what it is? Sure.

Surrendering means I don\’t know it all and don\’t have everything figured out. For someone who can get pretty big for her own britches, letting go of that old bone — whatever it is that I think I can fix all by myself — is a thing. Doing so gives me space to look at what I\’ve overcome by it. And wow, is that humbling.

It\’s hard to feel free. I am tied to my computer, my mobile for calendar and email, my home (because the dogs, after all — how can I even walk to the mailbox and leave them??? you know, those moments when, instead of the crazy cat lady, I\’m the nutty dog dame), to schedules … and on it goes. But to know that there is life, there is freedom, in faith? That\’s one of the things that gives me good sleep.

What\’s the point of asking if you don\’t expect to get? The Word says \’ask and it shall be given\’ … the Creator is known as the One with Deepest Pockets (not really — that\’s my paraphrase … it sounds cooler than Owner of the Sheep on a Thousand Hills. At least in my opinion. Okay, I get it — stick to the facts, ma\’am) so why would I go to my prayers to ask and not believe I\’m going to receive? That\’s just silly. Having a spirit of expectation means every day is exciting, a new chance to say \’What a gift\’.

Most of all, what is the point of getting if you can\’t say thank you? It matters not how large or small the gift. If saying thank you to the person at the register when you bought groceries makes them smile, what more does a thank you to the Creator do? It is nearly unfathomable to consider …

But let\’s.