living well.

We are called to live each moment in a way that glorifies the Lord.  The things that we do with our free time, the places our thoughts go as we wait for our coffee to brew, even the mindset we have when the person in front of us has to use three different credit cards before one is accepted - all of those things, the small things, define our lives.

I've heard it said that if we are faithful in the small things, we will be faithful in the big things.  It is a message I tell to the teens here at Shelterwood all the time - that if they can be honest when asked about small things like their homework, then they are more likely to be honest when they are confronted about choices they have made, more trustworthy when asked hard questions.

Those pieces of our character make up the whole.  Those pieces of our time make up the whole.  If our thoughts are pure, they honor the Lord.  If our free time is spent well, it honors the Lord.  If all of the small things are well, then our lives honor the Lord, and isn't that the chief end of man?

It is so easy to excuse our selfish thoughts, to ignore the man who needs help picking up the change he dropped, to spend spare moments on nonsense.  God calls us to a higher standard, where each moment is one of value, an opportunity for intentionality.

Reading a piece of fiction, if chosen well, enhances the imagination and brings concrete thinking into an abstract story.  A work of non-fiction compels you to think, to process the information presented, to filter it, and then integrate the valuable pieces, ultimately building into the mind with which God has gifted you.  Checking in with a friend reconnects a relationship that could serve to glorify the Lord in the way that conversations are uplifting and refocusing.  Enjoying oneself is a manifestation of the joy and life and we have been given.  Intentionality.

So we must live well.  We must take each moment as another chance to love well, to live well, and to honor God.


My mentor tells me that I should ask each morning for "Grace enough for today."

Lord, give me grace enough for today.  Make my moments ones that glorify you, so that I may live in a way that pleases you.

Living well.