Short Title
Today's The Chosen devotional (Book 3, Day 5) was quite inspirational. The main topic was envy. But it triggers a reflection on what I'm most grateful for in my life. In the Prayer Focus, it called me to write a note page worth of Blessings and to thank God for each one. I stuck to a single note page for it. But I've found that I'm grateful for so much more than what I wrote on that page.
The majority of the Blessings I wrote about were people. I talked about Chérie, Malachi, Dan, my parents, siblings, and Tyrese. I did get a little into my health, home, food, job, resources, and my life in general. I concluded with being most grateful for God Himself. I saved Him for last because He is the most important part of my gratitude. Without Him, there are no Blessings...hehehe
What I loved most about staring my reflection notes with the Prayer Focus today was that by focusing on what I was grateful for first helped align my heart for a lesson on envy. Envy, and comparison, are the thief of joy. I can defeat envy by posturing myself with Joy first. Not that envy is a real issue today. But I've definitely allowed it to impact me before. Spending so much time this year with Jesus has been a life changing experience in my attitude of gratitude.
I've reflected on and have written about being unsettled often lately. What I hope I get across when I do talk about it is that I'm quite happy with my life right now. My being unsettled is not a reflection of my spirit or wanting to be somewhere else. I'm merely acknowledging that, although I am currently where I am suppose to be in this moment, I'm not where I'm suppose stay. I'm not stuck here. I'm grateful for where I am and what I have. I'm watering and cutting my grass right where I am in this moment. In fact, I'm touching the grass and enjoying it quite a bit, actually.
I get the sense that there is more to where I am and what I have. I also get the sense that my exile here is coming to an end quickly. I'm trusting God with the direction for my life and I'm going to proceed in obedience to His Good and Perfect Will. I'm drenching all of this in praise, prayer, and searching the pages of His Word. And I'm really excited about it all! All of the resetting accomplished on my California trip is opening my heart and mind to an array of new Blessings I did not expect.
One reset that has taken a bit of getting use to is my diet...hehehe I badly need to get to the grocery this weekend. I've been frequently going to Panera Bread for my food...hehehe While they do have much better ingredients than just about any other restaurant, they aren't perfect. With how much I've been eating there since I got back, I'm hoping it hasn't made too bad an impact on my body. I feel fantastic. But you never know...hehehe But I do know the impact of the ingredients if I'm the one making the food...HAHA I'll probably go to the grocery on Sunday and get next weeks supplies.
On one of my personal projects I've been working on, and making what was some great progress, I ran into a brick wall. It pretty much halted the direction the project was going in...hehehe That happens sometimes and it's okay. Running into the problem led to some possible new directions I'm exploring now. It has opened up the project to some new ideas that will likely make it work out even better. I remember when I use to get frustrated when I hit brick walls on my projects...hehehe When it happened this time, I was like well, that's disappointing, but ooh, what about this other idea now?! Attitude impacts perspective.
Speaking of the impact attitude has on perspective, today's attitude of gratitude exercise in the devotional had a direct application this evening. It wasn't related to envy. But I still found a way to apply it...hehehe After I do the devotional, I typically either take a walk or a do a jog. The weather today had been fantastic all day and I expected I would take a jog tonight. Well, as I was doing the devotional, in typical Florida fashion during this season, a storm popped up...LOL
So I wasn't able to get my jog in after all. I decided I would go out on my patio and enjoy the storm instead. I figured the rain and rolling thunder would be just as beneficial to my soul as a nice jog. As I sat there, I noticed the distant highway noise was competing with the thunder and rain for my attention...hehehe At first I wasn't happy I could hear the distant highway noise despite the rolling thunder and rain drops. Then I became grateful I could hear the rolling thunder and rain drops despite the distant highway noise. So yeah, attitude impacts perspective...hehehe When I changed my perspective, I suddenly could no longer hear the highway noise.
A quick explanation for today's title...hehehe Yesterday's was comically long. I write from my MacBook Pro. I take a quick look at the entries from my desktop browser before I publish them. I don't think about how long the titles are when viewing from my desktop screen because all looks fine there. It isn't until after they are published before I check them out from my phone. Well, yesterday's title was quite a bit wider than my phone's screen...LOL So today, I decided to go with a short title...literally...hehehe I love being silly sometimes ;P
Speaking of short...I think I'll make this entire entry short and call it complete...hehehe