A New Perspective

I've got a  lot to say today, so just bear with me...
Last night at about 1am my night owl husband and I were still awake.  For no reason, I started to look through my bottom dresser drawer.  Don't really know why, because my bottom dresser drawer is filled with old t-shirts that don't fit me.  I thought that I could dig through it and look for my bears t-shirt.  I took said shirt and took it into the bathroom, put it on and looked in the mirror.  Hmmmmmmmm.  Not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but definitely not great.  Looking at myself in that too small t-shirt I suddenly became very motivated to fit into that shirt again.

In 2006 that t-shirt fit me just great.  And I remember thinking that year at the Football Challenge that I looked great.  That I was so happy then.  Suddenly having flashbacks from that year I flipped onto shutterfly where I recently discovered all of my old pictures.  Opening the album from Hanover 2006 and found a couple more pictures that made me get that motivated feeling of I want to be able to wear that again.

In this picture I was so happy that day to learn that for the first time since I was a Sophomore in high school I could fit into my sister Sarah's clothes. Her shirt and her skirt.

In this picture I remember Alicia was telling me how good I looked.  Wearing shorts that were a size 6 I felt great and was having an incredibly happy week.  An incredibly happy year actually.  So last night as I was flipping through these pictures, and longingly looking at too small clothes the thought that I was being seriously vain came into my head.  I thought about how I had spent the whole day working on my class for Hanover and doing something good to this cloud of vanity hanging over my head.
It was then that I remembered suddenly that when I lived in LA there was a book that I had been reading a lot for some good easy to read spiritual lessons.  "Solemn Moments of Remembrance" by Dennis Gillett.  I remembered getting a lot out of that book and last night dug it out of a closet with a bunch of books we have no room for.  I flipped through it looking at the notes and highlights that I had made in it.  Remembering some of the lessons I had taken from it and had this feeling of lightness just come over me.  The things that had mattered didn't matter any more and the things I was carrying I put down.  Simply put, I remembered to remember God.  That that should be the focus of my life.

So after going to the gym today I came home and read through a new lesson in my book.  I will just briefly share it with you, as it has helped to make my day wonderful.  It is about the Lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life verse in 1John 2:16.  In general the lesson is about worldliness.  That we should live in the world and use the things in the world, but to see God behind it all.  The lesson was about finding balance between the world and our spiritual lives.  Knowing that in keeping that balance, the scale should be tipped more toward God because if the scale is equal we are serving 2 masters.

Anyway, it has given me something to think about for today.  I guess that is about all for now my friends.  But I will share another verse that Amber recently brought to my attention that has also been making me feel good lately.  From the NIV Jeremiah 29:11.  "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.