Abundance or Poverty?
I am reading the book “Don’t Waste your Life” by John Piper which I highly recommend if you haven’t read it. The chapter I am currently reading is “Living to prove he is more precious than life.”
To do this we must make sacrificial life choices rooted in the assurance that magnifying Christ through generosity and mercy is more satisfying than selfishness. Selfishness is a BIG word. Piper says “In other words, if we look like our lives are devoted to getting and maintaining things, we will look like the world and that will not make Christ look great.”
He goes on to talk about the story of the widow in Mark 12. One of the phrases in this story totally put things in perspective for me when I read the verse. “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contibuting to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had.”
Wow. That just put me in my place. I totally give out of abundance even though I expect nothing in return. It’s too hard to give out of poverty. What if something happens?? What if our car breaks down? What if we need it for vacation? What if???
WHO AM I TRUSTING? My Saviour or the world?
If we want to make people glad in God, our lives must look as if God, not possessions, is our joy. Our lives must look as if we use our possessions to make people glad in God – especially the most needy.
“I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth “HOME.” Before you know it, I am calling luxuries “needs” and using my money just the way unbelievers do. Missions and unreached peoples drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mindset that looks first to waht man can do, not what God can do.”
I can’t get enough of this book even though it’s kicking my hiney.
Busy as a Bee…but not me
I would like to introduce you to my daughter – Mary Ryan – who turned 2 in April. I will introduce her by showing you what she can do in a matter of 10 minutes while I am outside spray painting a chair. I left her on the bed quietly watching a Dora video. She decided that everything from her brother’s room that was on the floor needed to be in her room on the floor along with everything from her drawers. She is very talented as you can see.
Sips N Strokes
I know this is a strange title but I have to write about the awesome Mother’s Day present I received this year. There is an art gallery here in Birmingham that offers painting classes every night of the week. The purpose of the name – Sips N Strokes – is that you take your favorite drink of choice and paint a picture while you drink. Of course, my drink of choice was ChickfilA sweet tea but many people had achoholic beverages and the reasoning behind that is your brush seems to loosen up as you drink. This past Friday night, my friend Sherri and I chose the “Red Poppies in the Sunset” painting which was pretty difficult for a first timer. All the art classes I took in design school did not seem to come rushing back on this night. Thankfully, all of the supplies are provided and set up for you when you arrive and you share paints with the person sitting beside you. We walked into the studio and saw about 70 canveses set up – can you believe that many people want to paint a picture on a Friday night – and yes, most of them women. First, you have to draw the painting and thankfully I made it through that pretty easy because I knew enough to know that I would eventually paint over those pencil marks no matter how crooked they were. Then, you start with the mixing of colors to apply your background. The artist is up on a stage painting the same picture as you and showing you step by step how to apply the paint. The problem was, when she called for yellow paint, there were 3 choices of yellow! I struggled through the background and then it was time to outline the poppies. Needless to say, this was where my OCD decided to kick in and I just finally gave up and starting painting my own masterpiece. 4 hours later, this is what I came up with. I very much enjoyed it but I think next time, I will stick to a much easier painting and work my way up! I will say a girls night out will be planned sometime in the future and another masterpiece will be decorating my walls!
I think this time I choose a cross – how hard could a horizontal line and a vertical line be?
My life is changing
I have been pondering the last few months on whether I wanted to enter the blog world. I am not a writer nor am I good at actually putting my thoughts on paper.
But my life is changing so fast that I want to capture as much as I can so I can go back and see the progress. And what I mean by changing is a true spiritual change. God is pulling and changing my heart so fast that if I’m not paying attention I will fall flat on my face.
This all stems from a book called “Don’t Waste your Life” by John Piper. Sometimes I can’t wait to pick it up to see what God has in store for me and sometimes I can’t wait to put it down so I can walk away and just let the words soak.
I also want to backtrack a little to my past and of course there will be some funny stuff when it comes to writing about my 2 little blessings – Grant and Mary Ryan.
I hope that sharing about my joy and treasure will help you to see what’s most important in my life and that is Jesus Christ.
May I give him all the glory that he deserves.
