Be Thou My Vision

Year 4-Day 20:  Today, I am grateful for choices that allow us to refocus our vision and our goals.

This found image of a memo book struck a chord with me this morning and I find a new song to sing to start this day.  What am I doing today that will have an impact on eternity?

Sunday inspires. Monday has it's missions. Tuesday has tasks. Then...Wednesday arrives...and we wake to not quite being over the hump of the work week. How do we refocus our vision so that the day ahead holds more more excitement than resign? 

The Earworm is awake this morning and whispering: "This is your mission if you chose to accept it." Sometimes the earworm sings....sometimes he quotes old television jingles and catchphrases. 

One thing the Earworm has taught me is that repetition helps us learn, so I find myself back in Habakkuk 2, but this time adding some verses for closer inspection of the word. 

Habakkuk 2:1-4  I will take my stand at my watch-post and station myself on the tower,and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision,  make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.  Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him but the righteous shall live by his faith.

"If it seems slow...wait for it." How impatient is the heart of man...and woman as I see it in my own mirror.  I want to see His will clearly, and I want to understand it now.  How "puffed up" is my soul that I cannot trust him to reveal His plan in his time. 

The Lord spoke to Job - the one he loved so much- when Job we frustrated confused and miserable in his suffering. Job 38:4-5 

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding."

In this interaction, isn't it interesting that God...as always is true to his word. He did not reveal to Job that Satan was testing him.  He cannot lie or bear false witness. He is truth, justice...

("and the American way?", asks Earworm jumping into my thoughts with his Saturday morning cartoon "Justice League"  memories. "Not anymore.", I sadly reply.)

He is truth, justice and faithful in all things, in his time.  The secret is to refocus our vision with his. His Word brings his character, goals and commitment into focus, even when his ways are less than clear. We can always trust His heart. 

Isaiah 30:8-9 speaks to the value of writing things down.  Doodle what you learn in your Bible margins.  Take notes in a journal. Bookmark pages that speak to your soul. Post His words on your walls, but most importantly, carve them into your hearts. Here is the scripture:

And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book,that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever.
9 For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to 

hear the instruction of the Lord; 

Clearer vision is a result of more relationship. More relationship is a by product of intentional time together. Wednesday is only half way through the week.  There is time to refocus and make it matter. 

"The goal isn't to live forever, it is to creates something that will."  The artist in me loves the idea, and words and pictures are my favorite medium, but I still have so much to learn. I feel unqualified.  I question my preparedness for the task of sharing His word, as He is holy and I am not. I am about to lay down the pen and he reminds me of a love note in His word:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. -2 Corinthians 12:9  

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. -Phillipians 3:12

I am His and He is mine! What fear could I possibly have of the future?

When our loved ones sift through our things at the end of our dash...what will they find?  I hope I've create something worth leaving behind. A letter, a Bible full of notes in the margins with doodles of the divine, a song, a scrapbook about our faith or a painting. I have a grandmother who crocheted "The Lord's Supper". (I wonder who has that now? What a treasure.)  

Your legacy might be a recipe book with ways to share God's love through hospitality. Write notes on the back of a shared recipe about the woman (or man) of faith that gifts you with their homemade hospitality. Every one has a gift to share.  

Gentlemen - sharing your building skills or your mechanical expertise is another way to make an entry that journal. It blesses the receiver beyond measure. 

Today, I am grateful for choices that allow us to refocus our vision and our goals.

5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!