Monday January 9, 2012

Kayla-
I feel like that I can speak for myself and Derrick when I say, that we are both really enjoying the book of Ecclesiastes. It's wording really speaks to me and is beautiful. I haven't posted in a while, so I want to go ahead and share some of my favorites from this book. 


2:11: "Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun."

To use the gifts and talents and resources that God has blessed us with to profit the things of this world, is like chasing the wind. We won't ever catch it and it has no purpose. There is nothing in this world for us, but we live in this world to further the Kingdom, and we use our gifts, talents, and resources, to be the hands and feet of Christ, we can shine Christ through ourselves and our things, to lead them to a place where there is hope for those without it, and a place where we can find purpose, not just toiling for things that will be destroyed one day.

3:11: "He has made everything beautiful in its time." We have all been at that point in our-lives where we are thinking this part is definitely NOT beautiful. Definitely not. Those broken moments where you wonder how you got there and how in the world God is ever going to make something of it. But then He does, and you cannot even begin to grasp His wonderfulness, and you end up being so thankful that He got you through it, with His strength, not yours. Those things were made beautiful in time. :)

4:9-10, 12: Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. ... Two will withstand him-- a threefold cord is not quickly broken." We were made for relationship, for community. God for the beginning never intended for us to do any of this alone. It's so important that we keep those strong Christian relationships and ties, and accountability so that when we fall under persecution or temptation or just hard times in general, that there is someone else we can lean on a little bit. Also in service, it's all about teamwork and doing your part as a functioning part of the body of Christ. And I also think about this with my relationship with Derrick, when it says two will withstand, but a threefold cord is not quickly broken, and the third cord in my thoughts represents God, there is no way we could do this with out Him, and I wouldn't even want to. I've said for a few years now that when you feel like you are barely holding on by a thread, God is the one thread that is actually a chain, strong, and what holds it all together when other things might be weak.

Okay...there is more I could share, but I will leave it at that....it's almost 8:00pm....and I could so go to bed right now :)

Blessings.