One thing...

 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

 

Psalm 27:4

 
 
One thing... If I could only ask one thing, would I be as righteous as David and ask to dwell in the house of the Lord and gaze upon his beauty? 
 
I have a new conviction tonight for the lavish Love of our God, and for how little he REALLY asks of us.  (and yet how hard I find it at times to live all out for him!) 
 
I can never know Him fully, yet I'm asking Him to reveal Himself to me little by little.  I want more, I want more, I want more!!! 
 
Tonight, I got to go on a date with the Lord.  I was able to take 2 hours and soak in the word and in His LOVE for ME!!!   WOW...  I mean, I thought I got it, but wow!!! 
 
My challenge to you is this... Go on a date with God.  Go ahead... get all gussied up, and go with him.  Take his word and enjoy a candlelit dinner with him.  (literally, or in your minds eye - you decide!)  He wants to woo us and court us.  Go back to Him as your first love!  Giggle, adore, gaze upon his beauty! 
 

The FIRST and the LAST....

The First and the LAST - that's what the past couple of weeks has held for us. 

The first day of school.  Emma's first day ever of school (sniff, sniff...) (And our first annual girls pampering afternoon!)  The first day that smelled like fall, first Vikings and Hawkeye football games, etc. 

And the last... the last time in the pool (wiping tears!)  the last late weeknight, the last day wehre all three kids were home all day, blah, blah, blah... 

Here's Kendra and Emma in the pool on "THE LAST day of swimming" 

Another HUGE first at our house was the boys getting their very own BIBLE at church.  Oh, how I loved to see the excitement they had!   (This mommy got tears:-)  I can't wait for them to dive in and develop their own passion for God's word!  Hard to imagine my babies being big enough to read the bible for themselves!  WOW...

Firsts, and lasts....  All conjure up a ton of emotion.  Why do we hold these things so sacred?  Because we want to treasure every bit we can with them, and before we know, time has passed us by and we are realizing we could have done more. 

It's that way in our walk with God.  We don't know when the "last" day will be for us...  If we did we'd trying squeezing in all the first and lasts that we possibly could.  Instead, I challenge us to live each day to His glory!  Sounds cliche' but really, why don't we??? 

It also makes me think that our LOVE for Jesus should pale in comparison to our sentimental earthly memories we seek.  We read in scripture that He is the First and HE is the last... 

"Listen to me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am he; I am the first and I am the last." Isaiah 48:12



When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. - Revelation 1:17

So, today I'm praying that, although the earthly firsts and lasts are important, that I would spend more emotional energy with the TRUE FIRST AND LAST.  That I would know him more and pattern my life after HIM and HIS desires for me.  For He is the First and the Last.  The one who was, and is, and is to come.... 
 
God guide me in paths towards you and your ways.  May I not get so hung up on making memories here on Earth, that I miss out on the treasures you have in store for me.  May I live my life to be a blessing to you in all that I do, and may those memories be what sustains me.  May I model that for my kids so that they want what I want, which is more and more of you....

Where did summer go?

So, you're all saying it right now... where did summer go??  This photo was taken tonight as we took the boys to school for open house.  They've grown so much over the summer, and yet it seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the end of school....  And so it is with life. 

I think we truly savored as much summer as possible.  Lots of lazy days by the pool and fun times outside!  At the same time, I'm not quite ready to quit looking back at all the summer fun and start looking forward to the fall activites.  It seems like life just passes so quickly with these little ones, and before I know it they will be all grown up and not needing their momma anymore :-( 

As I was reflecting on this looking through photos tonight, I was struck by how we live so much of our lives this way....  not savoring today, but looking back, or looking forward. 

I came to this verse...
What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  James 4:14b

In essence, we worry so much about how things are passing us by, or what might be coming, that we can't enjoy the here and now...  we don't know when our time on earth will cease and we'll enjoy our heavenly eternity.  What if it were tonight... 

For today, I'm committing to loving and living in the moment.  To not looking back or to far ahead, and just taking in the blessings around me.  WIll you join me?