I want to offer him
A virgin heart each morning
A blank page

On which the Master's hand
May write a loving lesson
A love note

I want to lay it down
A sacrificial offering
A pure heart

And yet I come to him
With heart already cluttered
A half heart

I want to live for him
In action as in discourse
A true life

To really put him first
And give to him unflinching
A whole heart

This poem birthed itself this morning as I was thinking about the fact that a whole month has gone by since I began my quest to develop three key habits:
A daily Sacred Hour
A good night's sleep each night
A weekly Sabbath--celebrating it as a day of true rest

Results? Well, not perfection, I am afraid, but I'm not giving up.
My daily Sacred Hour has sometimes been a Sacred Half Hour, but I have had many whole hours and it has been so good. The hour goes by so fast, and I love to have unhurried time with God.

I do struggle to get to bed on time, being by nature more of a night owl, but I am trying, because I want to become a lark. This weekend I did better. I have been getting more sleep, but if I don't get to bed in time, obviously my morning is shorter.

Finally, the celebrating of Sabbath has been good on the one hand, because I have resisted doing any personal chores on it, but because it has been a very busy time at work, I have done some work that was necessary, on Sunday evenings. I won't be doing that next weekend, but I felt that I had to over the past couple of weekends. Is this the thin edge of the wedge? I sure hope not--I am committed to resting on Sundays.

Other updates: On Saturday I got a lot of the decorations put away but our Christmas tree is still up! :)

Ephesians 6:10 (New International Version)
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Comments

Brenda said…
Hi Belinda, I think you are doing an amazing job of staying faithful to your commitment. My tree and ALL my X-mas decorations are still up so you're ahead of me in that department. I like my new priorities...the Lord and people. The decorations will come down....someday....or maybe I should just leave them up. It would save a lot of time. :)
3:49 PM
Belinda said…
Thanks for the encouragement Brenda! My decorations made it upstairs into the spare room, but if only you could see the room. It is our guest room, so I am hoping no guests come to visit just yet. :)
4:41 PM
Anonymous said…
I enjoyed your update and your transparency about how it's all going. Press on! Gently, of course. :-)

Oh, and thanks for sharing the poem. It's a prayer or possibly a hymn. Or maybe both, meant to be sung as a prayer? That's how I hear it.
10:33 PM
Belinda said…
You are kind Marilyn. I struggled with it after I put it up there. I felt as if it was such a poor offering, but it sounds as though I should have trusted better!
7:52 AM
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