Reflection by Christin Ditchfield Lazo.
These are the deep questions: What are we doing with our lives? How are we using our gifts and talents? How are we spending the precious time, energy, and resources we’ve been given?
And what are our motives? Put another way, what motivates us? What drives us? What determines our priorities?
It may feel overwhelming to even ask the questions -- let alone consider the answers. Let alone examine the difference between what we want our lives to look like, what we want our motives to be -- and what they actually are.
But today, resist the urge to move on. Sit with the hard questions for a few moments and prayerfully consider them. Choose one aspect of your life to focus on: perhaps your career or ministry, your relationships, your health (body, mind, and spirit).
As you reflect, keep in mind today’s Scripture readings. They give us such clear, simple standards with which to measure -- and at the same time serve as guiding stars, worthy goals to aspire to.
Whatever else we do or don’t do, whatever our hopes and dreams, whatever it says in our purpose- or mission statements, and regardless of our circumstances, our living arrangements, relationship status, health and wellness, financial resources -- these Scriptures offer things we all can “do with our lives” -- things we all can put into practice.
From Micah 6:8:
Do justly. By God’s grace and in His strength, choose to live with integrity. Be fair, be just, be righteous (in the righteousness of Christ)-- and do the next right thing.
Love mercy. When others fail to do justly, when they struggle or stumble, be eager to show the same mercy, grace and forgiveness God extends to you.
Walk humbly. Remember that God is God, and you are not. Approach Him with reverence and respect. Recognize how much you depend on Him for your very breath. Acknowledge that all you have is a gift from Him. Ask Him to lead and guide you.
From 1 Thessalonians 5:18: Be joyful, prayerful, and thankful.
Joyful. Keep your eyes open for the goodness of God all around you. Celebrate creation, beauty, imagination, and virtue.
Prayerful. Talk to God about everything on your heart, everything that comes to mind -- especially those things that threaten to keep you from being joyful and thankful.
Thankful. Count your blessings -- and give thanks even in your trials. Remember that God can use your greatest suffering for your good; He can turn your biggest failures and mistakes into opportunities for His glory to shine through.
Again, choose one of these practices to apply to one area of your life. Ask God to show you where the practice has been evident or present and fruitful in your life and where it has been absent. And then ask Him to help you choose a few simple steps you can take in His direction.
Christin Ditchfield Lazo is an author and conference speaker, living on the campus of Virginia Theological Seminary with her husband Andrew, who is a postulant for holy orders in the Episcopal Church. They met and fell in love over their passion for all things literary, especially the works of C.S. Lewis.