bluebirduncaged 31 days

31 days: beautiful

He has made everything beautiful in its time…there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them? ~Ecclesiastes 3:11,22 

Be present. Enjoy the moment you’re in. When the time is right, you’ll see it’s beauty and His reasoning. Pursue excellence. Recognize opportunities. Realize that you are leaving a legacy. You never know what will happen because of your choices. 

This is part of 31 days (of being present). Join the other 31 day-ers here.

bluebirduncaged 31 days

31 days: still

Over this month’s journey of being present I’ve noticed my pace change. It’s not because I’m less busy; my schedule hasn’t slowed down one bit. But this series has forced me to stop, think, reflect, and generally be more aware of the space I’m occupying at this point of life’s timeline. It’s made me find times to be still and quiet in my heart while the world rushes and swirls around me (or even as I’m rushing and swirling around myself). 

Being present requires stillness. Find the quiet moments and be refreshed.

Be still and know that I am God ~Psalm 46:10a

This is part of 31 days (of being present). Join the other 31 day-ers here.

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31 days: flexible

Being present requires us to be flexible. May we not resist His promptings and be willing to trade our plans for His glory. 

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow…Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” ~James 4:13-15

 

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31 days: the moment to be minded

The next hour, the next moment, is as much beyond our grasp and as much in God's care as that a hundred years away. Care for the next minute is just as foolish as care for the morrow, or for a day in the next thousand years—in neither can we do anything, in both God is doing everything. Those claims only of the morrow which have to be prepared today are of the duty of today: the moment which coincides with work to be done is the moment to be minded; the next is nowhere till God has made it
                ~George MacDonald

This is part of 31 days (of being present). Join the other 31 day-ers here.

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31 days: season

My beautiful mother sent me this post by Sarah Markley. Be encouraged. REST. Be present in your season. 

    "As much as it’s continually uncomfortable to be with groups of people who are successful in ways that I would like, I’ve just come to understand that my “season” isn’t now. That has been a hard road…I believe God wants us to do great and mighty things for Him and He’s called us to listen and obey Him in this. But maybe my own personal tension between feeling like I should be farther along than I am and wanting to be a good steward of what I do have is simply that I’m in a different season. I don’t have to struggle against the season that I’m in.”

Read the rest here

“That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither — whatever they do prospers.” ~Psalm 1:3

This is part of 31 days (of being present). Join the other 31 day-ers here.

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31 days: content

Some days are easier than others. Today was one of them. Well, it wasn’t exactly easy; I barely had a spare moment and a child put their sticker on the mirror (it’s not coming off either). But as I reflect on today, my heart is full. I’m content. 

It’s easier to be present when we’re content. And as much as we like to think contentment is a feeling, it’s really a choice.  Do we trust He knows best for this moment? Are we filling ourselves with the task He’s placed in front of us or wishing we had another one? Or are we skipping to the next one without finishing the first? Are we going to choose to trust that He is enough? Though it may take a while, our heart follows our head. Maybe the first step to being present is choosing to be content.

 

This is part of 31 days (of being present). Join the other 31 day-ers here.