On A Dark, Winter's Night
So, I'm going to break this writer's block stage I've been going through for over a year now--this dark winter's night of the soul. I'll do it by posting, with determined consternation, my devotional thoughts--here, where God and everybody can see them. At least I'll try this. We'll see if it breaks the dam.
Today I've been reading Romans 8 in The Message. This passage speaks to a problem I often have with boredom and listlessness, both precursors to despondency and depression, helplessness and stagnation. (ie: writer's block) The solution to this problem is both obvious and easy. Why do I keep forgetting?
Romans 8 says,
Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them--living and breathing God!
Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored.
But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells--even though you still experience all the limitations of sin--you yourself experience life on God's terms.
The emphasis in the above is mine. It's all about "where you put your eyes."
Stagnant: Looking inward.
Fresh and alive: Looking outward and upward.
Looking at Jesus.
Seeing Him in the beautiful world around me.
Seeing Him in the beautiful people around me.
Seeing Him in his Word.
That's all it takes to break the despondency cycle.
Deep breath. Refreshed.
Thank you, Jesus.
Today I've been reading Romans 8 in The Message. This passage speaks to a problem I often have with boredom and listlessness, both precursors to despondency and depression, helplessness and stagnation. (ie: writer's block) The solution to this problem is both obvious and easy. Why do I keep forgetting?Romans 8 says,
Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them--living and breathing God!
Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored.
But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells--even though you still experience all the limitations of sin--you yourself experience life on God's terms.
The emphasis in the above is mine. It's all about "where you put your eyes."
Stagnant: Looking inward.
Fresh and alive: Looking outward and upward.
Looking at Jesus.
Seeing Him in the beautiful world around me.
Seeing Him in the beautiful people around me.
Seeing Him in his Word.
That's all it takes to break the despondency cycle.
Deep breath. Refreshed.
Thank you, Jesus.
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