Participating in the A to Z Challenge is just that, a challenge. It is also a wonderful learning experience and a way to meet new friends, other cultures, and new ideas. Checking out the Blogging from A to Z homepage is a great way to keep up with all the latest goings on in the challenge, but it's also filled with encouragement and tips to make it to the end.
Quality 1.
Essential characteristic of a thing.2. An attribute 3. A high level of value or excellence.
Each man’s work will become evident; for
the day will show it because it is to
be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each
man’s work.
To grow in the qualities of
Christ is to be a quality Christian. The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit grows
those qualities of Christ in the Christian who seeks to follow Jesus Christ.
But thefruitoftheSpirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.Galatians 5: 22-23 (NASB)
“How do YOU think it’s spelled?” You know what I am talking about, those truths and principles you repeat to inculcate them into your kids, to give them what you believe they need to overcome obstacles and become productive people, people who can figure things out and stand on their own two feet. These are Mom (and Dad) mantras.
We remember some that our parents spoke into our lives.
“I used to walk 10 miles to school, up hill and in the snow.”
“We never got to do that when I was growing up.”
“Nothing good ever happens after midnight.”
“Chores first.”
Each of us has our own list, though some may be common to all if you are from similar cultures. The mantras are meant to instill in us perseverance, strength of character, wisdom. In my house, among the regular chanted mantras I used were messages about attitude.
“Attitude ‘A’ every day.”
"Be a blessing and be blessed.” “What you practice you become.”
Your mantras say something about what you value, about what you believe contributes to a good life, about what influences you. Some of the mantras of our lives we don’t even realize are there. They may be subconscious, repeated messages in the recesses of our mind, but shining through who we are none the less. Sometimes others may hear what we don’t realize we repeat. These can be dangerous mantras because they may be shaping us with something harmful to our character.
It’s a good practice to occasionally do a mental check of the mantras we recite, to listen to that voice that speaks within us, the messages we let freely rerun on the screen of our minds. Listen as well to the ones we speak into the big wide world of our children’s futures. It wouldn’t hurt to check with loved ones. Ask if there mantras we are missing that may be having an ill-effect on us or those around us. We all have blind spots that we can use a little passenger assistance to see.
What mantras have been influential in making you who you are?
3. Visit the person who linked up before you and encourage them with your comments. The one unbreakable rule.
I haven’t written a Five Minute Friday for awhile. I haven’t blogged for a few weeks either, come to think of it. I’ve barely gotten online to leave a comment here or there, but at least I have done that over the last few weeks a time or two. It has been nagging at me to sit down and write something more than a journal entry, a homeschool test, or something work related.
"Ah, it’s Friday, I’ll check in and at least write for 5 minutes," I think. So I checked in to find the word “Imagine” was the prompt for the day. Then I was immediately summoned to perform mom driving duties. The word "Imagine" hummed in my head as I drove.
Upon return: Five minutes begin.
GO!
I couldn’t help but immediately think of one of my favorite songs, “I Can Only Imagine.”
Every time I hear it, my heart turns to praise. I can’t help but meditate on the concept of being in the eternal presence of God. The sense of abundance, not of lots of stuff as in the physical, but of abundant filling of the Spirit, with a satiation that leads to sense of satisfaction and sanctification that is palpable. I can breathe it, feel it, bask in it: the abundance of joy that overwhelms me as I imagine. The song often moves me to tears of joy, and I love to just sing along, and then think about it when it is done.
I drove along and thought about the song. I thought about the words and the concept on my way back after dropping the kids. Then I turned the radio on. I confess I usually listen to talk radio in the afternoon. There was a commercial on; so I switched the channel to the Christian radio station. Just as I turned it on, “I Can Only Imagine” began to play. I couldn’t help but well up with tears of joy at the realization that my God was speaking directly to me.
Five minutes up: Stop.
______________
I also can’t help but think about Team Hoyt every time I hear the song since when I first heard it, it was in conjunction with a music video about this amazing father and son duo. Their story is quite incredible. Son, Rick Hoyt was born with cerebral palsy which left him paralyzed with minimal mobility. Medical personnel held out little hope, but the Hoyts, Dick and Judy, would not give up on their son. As he grew, they grew too ministering to him as loving parents might. Along the way, they discovered that young Rick Hoyt got a tremendous sense of freedom from being out with his dad in racing events, Father Hoyt pushing his son in some kind of chair or bike, or carrying him along in some way.
After the initial 5 mile benefit run in 1977, the Hoyts went on to participate in more and more races including marathons and triathlons. In 1989 the Hoyt Foundation was started to raise awareness of the challenges of people with disabilities as it, “aspires to build the individual character, self-confidence, and self-esteem of America’s disabled young people through inclusion in all facets of daily life...” One of the ironic and quite poignant vignettes of their larger story came when Dick Hoyt had a heart attack after years of racing with his son. The doctor’s told him he wouldn’t have survived had he not been in such tremendous physical condition. Here the Dad had been thinking he was helping his son all these years, and it turns out the son saved his dad’s life.
There is lots more of the inspiring story, and the music video is worth watching again and again. I hope you’ll take the time to visit Team Hoyt.
I am taking a course with Ligonier Ministries called “Dust to Glory.” R. C. Sproul in this course gave some insight into this verse that I found very helpful and helped me meditate on this verse more effectively, and I think it is worth sharing from some of my notes.
The things of God require a rigorous use of our minds. And what does the Lord require of you, to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. This is the simplicity of the commands of God.
In this verse, “to do justice” or justly is associated with righteousness. In ancient Israel justice is always defined in terms of righteousness. What Micah is telling us here is that we ought to understand the first thing God requires of us is to do the right thing. And God defines for us throughout Scripture what the right thing is.
Love mercy is the second thing. According to Dr. Sproul, the term here can be a bit more confusing. The Hebrew word used here is "Hesed," which is translated many different ways in English. The most common translation is steadfast love. The most accurate translation according to Dr. Sproul is to love loyally. Hesed is the term used in the Scriptures again and again to describe God's love, His covenant love, His faithful, loyal, love to His people, which begets His mercy to His beloved. Our relationships in this world are to be marked by loyalty, by a kind of love that covers a multitude of sins, by the kind of love that shows mercy. In a sense the whole of 1 Corinthians 13 reflects this kind of love, Hesed. This is the kind of love, faithful, kind, perserverant, steadfast that reflects the character of God.
The third thing in Micah is to 'walk humbly with your God.' Dr. Sproul says that this verse is summed up in the term Coram Deo, a Latin phrase meaning before the face of God.
“To live Coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.” Dr. Sproul.
We as Christians are to live acutely aware that our lives are lived out in the presence of God. We are to do all things in subjection to His sovereignly and His authority. Micah is saying just this.
Sometimes God’s will isn’t always so clear to us, but the more closely we practice the truth of Micah 6:8, the easier it is to discern what the will of God is.
Statesman: a wise, skillful, and respected political leader, well-versed in the principles and art of government.
When I think of statesmanship, I think of historical figures like the founding fathers, John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill. I know we could expand that list considerably, but why is it that when we think of statesman, no one from the present day comes to mind? Has the word become archaic or do we paint all politicians with a broad brush of dark colors not consistent with the word statesmanship?
Politics around the globe seems to be a dirty business. Good people are grouped with those that might be less admirable. It takes someone with a strong sense of conviction or selfish ambition to enter politics today, and sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between the two, but I do believe that there are statesman among them, and we should look for them and look out for them, because they pay a heavy toll to participate in the process of running for office and fighting for what they believe in.
The D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Statesmanship, a non-partisan interdenominational evangelical outreach to our nation’s leaders and their staff, is located in Washington D.C. to minister to those on Capitol Hill and encourage and fortify Christian Statesmanship within the halls of government. I like their definition of a statesman:
“One whose public and private conduct is guided by a bedrock set of principles that will not be compromised for personal or political gain. Such a person rises above mere partisan politics and makes the overall welfare of a nation his or her first priority.”
Hillsdale College has a graduate school of statesmanship to train students in first principles, growing future statesman. They focus not only on teaching the classical roots, but also the roots of contemporary political thought while helping students understand the centrality of ethics in politics. Perhaps the concept of statesmanship won’t disappear from our lexicon.
Do you have anyone you think of as a statesman, or are you too prone to see only the negative in politics?
Is it worth looking for statesman in the halls of government, or should we just give up on that?
To some freedom and discipline will seem like a mismatch, but I hope you will think again. Any musician, athlete, performer knows the freedom that comes with the discipline of their craft. The reason they have the freedom to be excellent in their ability, to do what they are able to do with joy, is because they have taken the time to employ discipline in their learning. If they had not done so, they would be free to play well.
Discipline is training, practice, immersion in the facets of and obedience to the rules of a system of learning of an activity or of life in general. Without it, we never develop depth or expertise in a particular area of interest. We will always be limited and lack the freedom that comes with knowing something fully.
Discipline as a life skill helps us develop healthy habits and resist those which lead to addictions. Again the avenue to freedom is discipline.
Any employer will tell you how liberating it is for them to have an employee they can count on to arrive on time, get the job done as expected, trust to finish what he has set out to accomplish. These are all marks of discipline.
A child who has been disciplined, has manners, can interact more freely and comfortably with those of all ages.
The Christian life is no different. However, many of us who call ourselves Christian have become lazy in the spiritual disciplines of the faith. Without practicing these disciplines, we become flabby and ineffective just as one does in any area of life that requires discipline. What are these disciplines?
Spending time in the Word of God - including reading, memorizing, and meditating on the Word
Prayer - spending time with God both alone and corporately with other members of the faith
Worship - which would include church attendance as well as the state in which we live our lives
Evangelism - sharing our faith as ambassadors for the kingdom of God
Service - having a servant’s heart to be the hands and feet of Christ within our community and to the world
Stewardship - realizing everything we have belongs to God, the earth, what we own, our relationships, all belong to God and so we should care for it as such and be willing to give back to Him at least the portion He lays on our hearts to give
Fasting refraining in some way from something to more fully focus on Christ, the direction of the Holy Spirit, and a life of holiness and selflessness
Surrender - putting the Lord’s calling on our lives in all areas above our own desires, in fact making His good pleasure the main desire of our hearts knowing that His good pleasure is really meant for our good as well
Fellowship - meeting with others in the faith involves being with like-minded people at play, in study, in worship, for encouragement, for accountability, and more
Gratitude - giving thanks in everything and in every circumstance as a practice of life. This discipline would turn our lives upside down and get rid of the need for a number of medications
There are more but how many of us even practice these regularly. If we who call ourselves Christian would practice these disciplines, oh the freedom and joy we would unleash. Could it be that we do not see a vibrant impact of the Christian church today because the world does not see the freedom we have in Christ without the discipline of the faith practiced among its members?
... On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness;
I want to be someone who always meets and greets and makes
others feel welcome. I want to have a
home where when you enter, you feel at home.
Welcome! It Is a state of
being. It is the comfort you experience
when you are with someone who allows you to be yourself, to let your hair down,
to let go of pretenses. That is who I
want to be.
Welcome. As I close
my eyes, I see the door opening and the
blanket strewn across the couch calling to me – welcome. As I cuddle up in that blanket, I see a hand
reaching out to me with a cup of hot apple cider and a smile on the greeter’s
face. Welcome. I feel welcome and I think, “I want to be
that person.”
I want to meet and greet and be a warm blanket, not a wet
blanket, an open door, not a slammed door, a hot cup of cider, not a lukewarm
sour drink. I want to offer a smile and
a sense of comfort and wellbeing.
Welcome.
