In my devotion today I was reading about Thomas À Kempis, a Catholic monk from the 1300's. The lesson he provided today was very helpful to me, as I've been thinking about this non-stop for months. He writes: "We strive for Earth's honors-- sports trophies, academic degrees, career success-- and that's valid and good. Yet we must keep all achievements in perspective, for life is fleeting and the bottom line is living in the Spirit and serving Christ. Where are now all those Masters and Doctors you knew so well in the full flower of their learning? Others now sit in their seats and they are hardly ever thought of. Oh, how swiftly the glory of the world passes away!"
I've been thinking so much about life changes. God's been preparing my heart for these changes over the course of the past six months. In August I could take nothing more than one day at a time, so different from where I'd been my entire life before: preoccupied with planning my future. I learned today at work about four of the most common neurological sorting systems that people have. These basically give people an idea of how God wired them. They're not exactly things you can change, and they often cause frustrations; but the key is learning what and who you are and how to nourish outside relationships so that you can thrive as one of God's children.
A person can be in-time (being present in the moments of everyday life) or through time (concerned with the past and future); moving towards (moving towards positive opportunities and taking chances) or moving away (moving away from negative things in life and putting up walls as a defense mechanism); same sorting system (seeing the similarities and opportunities in things) or difference sorting system (seeing the differences in things); and sort by self (not selfish, but concerned with how situations affect the self) or sort by others (concerned with the welfare of others so much that neglect of self occurs). Well, needless to say I was evenly distributed for two of the assessments (same/difference and moving away/moving toward) and extreme on the other two (sort by others and through time). I figure that I'm also definitely a moving away personality but for some reason the assessment didn't tell me that. I already know that. Anyway, we discussed as a class how the person you spend the rest of your life with is most likely the opposite of your own characteristics, and God again designed us this way. Whichever systems you find yourself more prone to, you're required to spend a majority of your time with people who are the opposite in order to grow. This causes frustration and disagreement but the most personal growth.
ANYWAY, that just all made me realize more about myself and where I'm going. Since I'm one of those through time people, I need to surround myself with others who know how to live in the moment. I've been so concerned with finding the perfect Christian program for nursing that I can; and I've ended up tying myself into my own complicated spider web. You must destroy the spider in order to eliminate the web, right? Otherwise the web will just continue to be spun?
Trusting God is an area in which I need to continue to grow. I always think that I feel the Lord speaking to me about something and then I start towards it but find that something goes wrong. I'm obviously the factor that remains the same every time, so I know my perspective needs to change.
"Keeping the spiritual and temporal balance happens only through humble and frequent prayer. As we recognize how dependent we are on God, we receive His blessings with less vanity and more joy."
Psalm 90:12 says, "Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may gain hearts of wisdom."
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