we're all pointing somewhere

i'd like to be a real girl,
a down-to-earth, honest, genuine girl.

i'd like to shower folks with love,
kindness, listening, camaraderie, truth.

i'd like to do this without pointing to me;
i want to be the real deal with people and love them without being the focus.

i'd like to live in such a way that others receive good fruit from me,
but they all realize its source is not my own heart,
it's Christ.

We are all pointing to something, someone, somewhere.
I have the option of pointing to my circumstances, whether happy or dire.

I have the option of pointing to myself, to what I think I've accomplished,
to the cookies I bake, the blankets I crochet, the children I teach, blah blah blah.

Or, I have the option every time of pointing to Christ.
Here's how I am today, and here is where I am with Jesus,
what He's teaching, how He showed His faithfulness and mercies again this morning,
how He is loving me through this dark valley.

If I want to worship Jesus, I focus on Him;
if I want those around me to worship Him, my role is to do what I can to point to Him, not me.

It's one thing for me to be honest about how I'm doing; it's another thing to distract people from God while talking about myself.

Our circumstances are not for us to glean sympathy or pity from others but to glorify Christ and show Him as faithful to others in the midst of our circumstances.

We are commanded to face our difficulties and trials with joy...

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."  James 1:2-4

O, Lord, do this through me; I need You desperately.

"Gleaning" by Arthur Hughes

is there a difference?

What's the difference between "being real" in sharing how I'm doing and in complaining about how I'm doing? 

How can we answer honestly without dishonoring God, sounding whining, or coming across as self-centered?

How does that work?

I just don't know.

thinking on it...

dwelling

On what do we dwell?
What do we think about?
What do we ponder, consider, mentally chew?
What do we retrieve over and over in our minds?

Do we dwell on our pasts...
its memories, events, wrongs inflicted upon us?

Do we repeat these things to others, regurgitate them in conversations, chew on them, retrieve them to play on repeat in our minds?

Do we dwell on ourselves...
who hurt us, how we were hurt, when we were hurt, how it still follows and troubles us?

Do we repeat these hurts and painful memories to others, regurgitate them in conversations, chew on them, retrieve them to play on repeat in our minds?

Or, do we remove the focus from ourselves and place it on Another?...

Do we dwell on Jesus...
His sacrifice, His life, His death, His power, His forgiveness, His Spirit, His cross, His resurrection, His ascension?

Do we repeat these truths and promises to others, regurgitating them in conversations, chewing on them, retrieving them to play on repeat in our minds?

Do we realize that that on which we dwell becomes that which doth define us?

Either we are defined by our problems, our pain, our methods and routines for dealing with our stuff, or....

We are defined by Jesus, His solution, His pain on our behalf, His forgiveness and hope, His Truth, His Word, His power.

What defines you?

What do people think of when they think of you?

Are others' thoughts pivoting around your sorrows, around you?

Or are the thoughts of others fixed on Christ as a result of your focus?

When we fix our gaze down on our circumstances, our history, ourselves, vaunting our own merits and works, Christ is diminished, ignored.

When we look up to the cross, remembering Jesus and His work on our behalf, His love, His hope, then He is exalted, honored, rejoiced over, worshiped.

Look up and live!

On what are you dwelling today?