Chapter 2: Establishing Proper Priorities

You are at a fork-in-the-road, in one direction is the road leading to truth, light, salvation, and unknown blessings; in the other direction is the road leading to sin, idolatry, and eventually spiritual death. Which road would you choose? I think the choice is rather obvious here, but in real life, it is not so obvious when our sense of direction gets muddled with fear, desire, people, and our priorities.

This week I was forced to re-evaluate my priorities. Chapter two begins with the biblical story of Orpah, in the book of Ruth, and the choice she made to return to Moab instead of continuing on to Bethlehem with Ruth and Naomi. A section in Balancing Blessings and Obtaining Order reads:

“Wedge between two decisions, I have no doubt that the choice she made to return home was a very difficult decision to make. With pressure from Naomi to go back, and the fear of the unknown in her heart, she did what most of us would do: return to the comfort of home, even though our spirit is restless with the decision.”

Whether we realize it or not her decision was based on what was important to her (her priorities); as much as she loved her mother-in-law and her sister-in-law, getting married again was important to her, having children was important to her, and I imagine being close to family and friends was also important to her.  All these things she desired were good and they were probably things that God desired for her, but when a person fails to insert God in the equation, things don’t turn out quite as well (or should I say, “quite as miraculously”).

Establishing godly priorities (or a clear direction for our life begins with putting God first, but it also requires us to examine our current priories to gain some measure of insight as to what is really important to us. Using the books list of common priorities on page sixty one of chapter two, helped me quickly discern where the majority of my time was being spent, what my values were, and whether they aligned with God’s will for me.

Ruth put God, love, dedication, service, and commitment high on her priority list, and she still got all the things in Bethlehem that Orpah returned to Moab for. The section concluded the commentary by saying:

“Daily you will venture to the fork-in-the-road where you will have to make those crucial choices that will either take you closer to Bethlehem (to Jesus Christ) or closer to Moab (away from Jesus Christ). The vehicle to getting to either of these places, and the focus of this chapter, is your priorities.”

For many months now I have deviated from being a Martha, to being a Mary to being a Martha again. Re-evaluating my priorities this week help me once again determine where the majority of my time was being spent—especially at work. I may spend nine hours at work, but was I meeting my goals and objectives or was I allowing interruptions to drive me off course. The most important question for me this week which concluded the chapter was: “Am [I] making all that [I] do count for the Lord?”

Next Week's Goal: Review Chapter 2 or Step 2, and finish chapter questions.

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Chapter 1 of My Journey, Take Two

Last week I finished reading chapter one, and this past week I took the time to thoughtfully answer each of the end-of-chapter questions and to carefully walk through the challenges. By putting forth the effort regardless of how busy my week was, I believe I set the tone for how serious this journey is for me. It's not just a journey I want to hurry up and be through with, it's a process I want to grow and mature from: spiritually, mentally, emotionally, financially, and physically.

The questions and challenges in Chapter 1 set the foundation for the entire book. Here are a few questions that were thought-provoking to me:

• What is the difference between Balancing Your Blessings and Stewardship?
• What does having order mean to you?
• What does it mean to live a surrendered life?
• What do you want your life to look life after you have completed this book?

here is a snippet of my response to the last question:

"... I want to be a better and do better; I want God to have more control over my everyday life rather than the people around me, my circumstances, or my environment..."

My "Balancing Blessings" Covenant is now a wall paper on my smart phone until I complete the challenge, so more than a few times a day I am reminded of my commitment, once again, to change.

Next Week's Goal: Read Chapter 2 or Step 2, and start chapter questions.

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Chapter 1 of My Journey

This week I finished Step 1: Getting Geared Up, and after my initial start last week I'm still pretty excited about going through this book once again and "jotting my journey" for all to read. I hope by sharing my journey I will encourage more readers to join me. At the very least I want to inspire someone in cyberspace to change one or two things in their life that would have the most significant and the most positive impact on their day-to-day life.

Speaking of life, what spoke to my heart most in Chapter 1 was on living a surrendered life--"releasing possessions, resources, and oneself to be wholly and completely used to glorify the kingdom of God." Boy has that been hard for me! I'm known for constantly getting in God's way or stepping on God's toes in pursuit of my goals, only to come back to the realization (time after time) that I'm nothing without God and I can do nothing of godly value without God's grace, mercy, and endless support.

Step 1 forced me to revisit areas in my life that I have failed to surrender to God. I had to ask myself: "How can I once again begin that process of daily surrendering myself to God, and how can I be better at surrendering this time, than last time?" Then it dawned on me that surrendering is a daily process of denying myself and taking up my cross daily (Luke 9:23), and asking the Lord each day to give me this day my daily bread (Matthew 6:11)—the strength, the energy, the courage, the means, the passion, etc. so that I might glorify Him daily.

Next Week's Goal: finish Chapter 1 questions.

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Getting Started on My Journey

I just finished reading the Preface and the Introduction for this week's journey challenge. I decided that going through this book once again is very much needed. Adjusting to working full-time has caused me to sacrifice time with God to do other things. Regardless of where my time has been spent, I'm so glad God loves me unconditionally and that there is no respect of persons with God (Romans 2:11). He loves me, just as much as he loves you.

I also created my reading plan using the tools in Appendix A (pages 350-1) of my book. Although I have a propensity for fickleness—one day I'm motivated the next day I may not be—I decided it would be best for me to face my weaknesses up front. I will go through the steps sequentially—even though I'm eager to get to step 4, because a necessary goal for me is to find ways to increase my energy level; and what better chapter to help me get focus in that area than Chapter 4: Exercising and Eating Healthy.

Next Week's Goal: Read Chapter 1 or Step 1, and purchase a journal to log my thoughts, and respond to chapter questions.

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