Friday view

A new day. A blank page. How can God be glorified today? (if only I asked this every morning!)

My Christmas break now contains three days left in which to… live. Now is not the time to pine over what I didn’t get accomplished, but to give thanks for the break that I did have, a very peaceful one in the past few days. I’ve got to spend a lot of time with my family, shopping with mom, sitting and talking with dad, running Amy to work, reflecting and praying at the end of the day with Ben. This is the good stuff, I keep telling myself, and I think that’ll still be true during the school year.

Something else that has come as a blessing has been time to read. This past year for the first time, I’ve been working on reading the Bible in a year and now I’m getting pretty close to the end. During the holidays I’ve been able to devote a lot of time to catching up so that I can finish in time. Reading all of Romans in just a couple of days – whew! that’s a kick! I’ve had time to make headway in other books as well, and started Wuthering Heights (insert the evil gurgle of a happy literature student) which I’ll be studying in a Lit class. I’ve needed to read that book for years, and now I can both read it for pleasure and get some school work out of the way – yippee!

And finally this break has been a time of spiritual…. hmm, challenge, as Christmas break has proved to be for me recently. But today I’m not going to waste time listening to the devil, perhaps I’ll never know how much work he’s already impeded with temptation, and self focus, and doubt! I guess it’s just that the holidays are times that my true {selfish} self comes out more clearly, and this gives me trouble. On the one hand this is discouraging (let’s be honest), but on the other it’s a special opportunity for the Lord to deal with these things, to clean up the mess. Could He still work in my heart in the last three days? Yes, even until the fourth watch of the night (Mark 6, where Christ walks on water).

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. … take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Eph 6:10, 13-17