WEEK 7:: where is the man?

customarily, it has seemed that each week, our study presents one particular point that sticks out to me. one topic or issue that rocks me to the core and challenges me. this past week was no exception. as i was reading through the lessons, i found myself continually thankful for & inspired by, beth's insights into this book. tucked away in the middle of "day 2", there is a sentence that states:

" we don't have to think highly to think obsessively of ourselves"

i gave that nugget a long, hard think. rarely do we ever give the "complainer" or the "worrier" or the "girl with low self-confidence" the label of "self-centered". that's a term usually saved for those individuals we decide talk too much about how great they are. or who are cocky. possibly rude or selfish. but beth wisely reminds us that ANY type of inward obsession-- be it positive or negative -- is a preoccupation that easily distracts us from focusing on God.

i'm a bit ashamed to admit that i never thought about being self-consumed in this way. i never realized that you don't have to think you're fabulous, to be thinking far too much about yourself. God has so many plans, dreams and desires for our lives-- but i think we loose sight of the glories He has for us, when we focus our eyes inward, instead of upward. one of my favorite scripture passages is found in Matthew chapter 6. it states:

" Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life-- what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air-- they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?"

- Matthew 6:25-27

spending time thinking about ourselves, whether it be in worry, or in admiration, does nothing to glorify our God. to be pre-occupied with ourselves means to be "de-occupied" with the things that really matter.

make it your goal this week to put God's thoughts above your own. i know i will try. and something tells me we'll all be better off for it.

next week. same time. same place. see you then.