As always, there have been a lot of things going on and a lot of things going through my head. I got a chance about a month ago to go to Virginia to celebrate my sweet niece's 1st birthday. It was a lot of fun. My sister, Laura, went along, so it was a good time to get to spend with her as well. Once I finish writing I may post a photo or two from that weekend. If things go my way, I'll get to go again with my parents over Easter. My little brother is preaching at his new church on Easter morning. That just feels a little odd to go listen to your little brother preach. I enjoy it, but it does feel a bit odd, nonetheless.
She may not appreciate me for this one day, but I love this baby with the crazed look in her eyes!
A little blurry, but still very cute. It was tough to get a photo of these two ladies without Katie Grace trying to grap my camera, so it's taken in the mirror, me standing beside them.
Katie Grace's first birthday cake. An ice cream cone, with many scoops. Ran a close second to Nottawa, for those of you who know what I'm talking about. For those of you who don't...you're missing out!
Not exactly a photographic masterpiece, but I still like this one.
I think I may have mentioned the possibility of working on a Master's degree in my last post. I don't remember and I'm too lazy to go look. That's still a pretty strong possibility. Another suggestion came up for next year, so I really need to do some serious praying and thinking about the 3 year plan.
A line from a song we sang at church a few weeks ago has planted itself in my gray matter. "We'll be tested by the blessing." That's all I remember. I know I could figure out the song if I wanted to, but there's really no need. That's enough for now. It's still challenging me. I think it's something that challenges most of us in the Western World. We have so many blessings, at least physically and materialistically. We certainly face difficult times. Life is not always easy, but compared to the extreme poverty and lack of basic provisions (water, food, sanitation) that many endure, we have a lot of "blessings". I'm not sure that it's always a benefit.
When I sat down to start typing I was pondering two topics I wanted to touch on. As my fingers started tapping, it hit me that the other topics ties in seemlessly. I was recently telling someone that my first priority in life is my relationship with Christ. After I said it, I had to stop and think. Yes. It is my first priority. But do I live each day in a way that makes that obvious? No. I'm not sure why that particular instance spoke so strongly to me, but it did. There are so many things that can distract. Many of them are things we view as the "blessings" the line in the song hints at.
Work, errands, meetings for church, emails, facebook, our favorite shows, coffee with friends, upkeep on homes/cars/property, reading for pleasure, shopping, blogging. None of these are inherently wrong. Many of them have extremely high value. Some of them are very important. That does not mean, though, that they should replace time with my Best Friend. For me, lately, it seems there are plenty of distractions that have received more priority than my time with Jesus. It's tempting to say I'm not in a bad place, just a bit of a complacent place. That may be the worst place of all. It's easy to cruise along looking like things are just fine. They're not when you're not spending the time with God that He requests and is IMPERATIVE for us. Today begins the change. Ironic that stating my priority made me realize it was not where it should be.
