I have this tool linked up to this website that let's me track how many people have read it, how they got here, etc. I was looking thru it today, at the referrals section that shows how someone ended up at my blog. Funny thing, there are like three referrals that came from someone searching for ways to make chin fat go away. (see this post: At What Point does the Chin Fat Go Away? ) I find it highly humorous that that is the search that got some random person reading my blog.
Today, I was home sick from work. I literally slept the entire day, woke up at 11:00am, back to sleep at 1:00pm until 4:00pm. Not very exciting, but very rewarding. For the past several weeks, I have had problems getting to sleep at night. I'll just lay there, ruminating over all kinds of things. It'll be 1:30 in the morning before I'll get to sleep. I think my illness today was a result of that loss of sleep.
Self esteem is a booger isn't it? I find that I go thru phases of having great self-esteem and then phases of "Oh my gosh, I suck" I'm not sure how to get into what it is I'd like to write about, so I'm just gonna dive in. My church has a value for a the concept of "First Fruits." My pastor did a teaching on this several years ago and it has become one of our staple values. The idea is that sure, we've always heard of the concept of first fruits when it came to tithing, right? Well, it goes deeper than that, more reaching. The concept is that in giving our first fruits in all things, we reap from it. Here I'd like to touch on the concept of living a "First Fruits" lifestyle. Now, I grew up in a denomination that strongly pushed "quiet times." This, in and of itself is not a bad deal. It's about spending quiet time with the Lord every morning. Well, in coming out of that denomination a few years ago, and coming out of a legalistic approach to God, I tend to shy away from things that feel legalistic. So, to me "quiet time" was more of a yoke, obligation, then it was about relationship. The idea of first fruits is very similar, but the approach is different. If we give the first part of our day to the Lord, the rest of the day is redeemed. It's the concept of sowing and reaping. If I sow to my relationship with the Lord, I will reap the fruits of it.
Now, I struggle with this concept. By nature, I am a pretty self-reliant woman. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is for me. In being self-reliant, I tend to take the steering wheel from God, and say, "Ok, I can handle this." In doing that, I totally rob myself of that intimate relationship with the Lord that is my greatest desire. I am torn as to why the thing I desire the most is the biggest struggle in my life. If I adapted this lifestyle, for more than one week, or a few days, I know that my relationship with the Lord would be incredible and He would be so real to me. I know this because it is a principle of God, if you sow something, you will reap it. It's as simple as that. If I sow to my relationship with God, I will reap from it. If I sow to my job, I'll reap from it. If I sow to my self, I will reap from it. (and not in a good way) The more I sow to my own self-reliance, the more it becomes a struggle for me to give up that reliance, you see.
So, I am trying to get this going. For it to be a lifestyle, not a yoke or obligation, but a desire.
Today, I was home sick from work. I literally slept the entire day, woke up at 11:00am, back to sleep at 1:00pm until 4:00pm. Not very exciting, but very rewarding. For the past several weeks, I have had problems getting to sleep at night. I'll just lay there, ruminating over all kinds of things. It'll be 1:30 in the morning before I'll get to sleep. I think my illness today was a result of that loss of sleep.
Self esteem is a booger isn't it? I find that I go thru phases of having great self-esteem and then phases of "Oh my gosh, I suck" I'm not sure how to get into what it is I'd like to write about, so I'm just gonna dive in. My church has a value for a the concept of "First Fruits." My pastor did a teaching on this several years ago and it has become one of our staple values. The idea is that sure, we've always heard of the concept of first fruits when it came to tithing, right? Well, it goes deeper than that, more reaching. The concept is that in giving our first fruits in all things, we reap from it. Here I'd like to touch on the concept of living a "First Fruits" lifestyle. Now, I grew up in a denomination that strongly pushed "quiet times." This, in and of itself is not a bad deal. It's about spending quiet time with the Lord every morning. Well, in coming out of that denomination a few years ago, and coming out of a legalistic approach to God, I tend to shy away from things that feel legalistic. So, to me "quiet time" was more of a yoke, obligation, then it was about relationship. The idea of first fruits is very similar, but the approach is different. If we give the first part of our day to the Lord, the rest of the day is redeemed. It's the concept of sowing and reaping. If I sow to my relationship with the Lord, I will reap the fruits of it.
Now, I struggle with this concept. By nature, I am a pretty self-reliant woman. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is for me. In being self-reliant, I tend to take the steering wheel from God, and say, "Ok, I can handle this." In doing that, I totally rob myself of that intimate relationship with the Lord that is my greatest desire. I am torn as to why the thing I desire the most is the biggest struggle in my life. If I adapted this lifestyle, for more than one week, or a few days, I know that my relationship with the Lord would be incredible and He would be so real to me. I know this because it is a principle of God, if you sow something, you will reap it. It's as simple as that. If I sow to my relationship with God, I will reap from it. If I sow to my job, I'll reap from it. If I sow to my self, I will reap from it. (and not in a good way) The more I sow to my own self-reliance, the more it becomes a struggle for me to give up that reliance, you see.
So, I am trying to get this going. For it to be a lifestyle, not a yoke or obligation, but a desire.
2 Comments:
In January of this year, I heard Paul White on TBN. She was speaking about three kinds of giving, tithing, first fruits and regular offerings and the importance of each. Planting your seed in the first month of the year brought peace and organization to the rest of the year. Giving the Lord the beginning of the day brought peace throughout the rest of the day, and so forth.
I decided to sow one week's salary to my local church that week as a first fruits offering. As a result, I received a 29% pay increase in August 2006. Yes, 29% increase! The last 6 years in this job had brought me 3% each year. In my mind, God taught me the principle of first fruits and how everything I have came from Him and is owned by Him. He blesses me so that I may depend more fully on Him and so that I can prosper His Kingdom on earth. Naturally, I gave the first week's increase right back to my church as a recognition of where it came from--the Lord.
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