This For That

​He must increase, I must decrease. John 3:30

I love to cook and my kitchen is my happy place.  I’m not much of a recipe follower, I tend to use them as suggestions instead of instructions so I can get pretty creative with substitutions.  Occasionally, the result of my creative swap teeters on the edge of disaster!  A recent such disaster got me to thinking about the swaps that I should consider in my discipleship.  Since Christmas is near and I want to give the Baby King the gift of a better me, I decided I should make a few substitutions in my daily faith life.  

*I need to swap the word BUT for the word BECAUSE.  All too often I find myself saying things like “It’s ok BUT…”  or “I’d like that BUT…”  The BUT automatically shifts my focus to what’s wrong or negative.  BECAUSE would help me find the positive.  “I enjoyed that BECAUSE…” or ‘I’d be happy to do that BECAUSE…”

*I need to swap my words for HIS Word.  If I spent more time quietly soaking up His Word instead of flapping my lips or chatting it up on social media, that would be a super power swap for my soul!  My words sure aren’t going to make the world better but HIS will!

*I need to swap thinking about doing things with actually doing them!  Procrastination can often be disguised as “planning” or “organizing” when in my case, it’s actually just plain ole puttering around and dragging my feet instead of just gettin to the task!  I can’t even imagine how many more good discipley things I could do with all those minutes I waste.

*I need to swap reactin for pondering.  I can be way too snappy with my actions and reactions.  I’m a problem solver and sometimes I just spring into action and try to get all the wrinkles smoothed out whether I’m the best person for the job or not.  I need to spend some time prayerfully pondering and giving God a chance to do things his way.

*I need to swap why me for why not me!  It’s ok if I work extra sometimes.  It’s ok if someone makes more money than me.  It’s ok if folks don’t notice all the things I do.  It’s ok if someone else gets the attention, reward or surprise.  I need to stop thinking about what I think I deserve or have earned and learn to celebrate the joys, successes and good fortune of others. I need to remind myself that all the things I do are for his glory and not mine!

It’s just five little swaps but I have a feeling the final product will be a great improvement!  As we wrap up the last few days of Advent and finish getting our hearts ready, I think I’ll focus on swapping out some junk and make some room for him.

A Seed To Plant:  Pick one of these swaps or think up some of your own and put them in action these last few days of Advent.

Blessings on your day!