This thought came to mind the other morning as I was getting ready for work – just a seemingly random thought at the time. However, as I contemplated it more, this phrase I’ve heard before – that you pay for convenience, it hit me in a new way. We do pay for convenience….we pay more money for the newest gadgets that offer the promise that they’ll save us time or effort, will help us accomplish what we need to do in a faster, more efficient way.

And believe me, I like faster and efficient. I don’t like to waste my time doing something if it can be done in a ‘better’ way.

But I just wonder if I’ve ever really counted the cost of convenience – not just financially – but what I’m giving up when I’m doing things ‘the easier way.’ What experiences am I now able to avoid that God may have used to build my character, to grow my discipline, to produce perseverance in me? What depths in relationships do I miss by sending quick text messages and emails, instead of taking the time to even make a phone call or sit down over coffee? What am I now exempt from because the easy way is available, more accessible than ever?

“Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to destruction, and many are those who are entering through it.” – Matthew 7:13

And I think about my daughter – all the conveniences this world will offer her – and what she may miss out on because of this.

Lord, please grant us (me) wisdom and discernment to choose what is best over what is available and permissible, to choose Your way over the world’s and even my way. Give us Kingdom eyes to know what is of real value.

In Jesus’ Name I pray and place my trust,
-jh

Lord, please

I’m unplugging from
the things that keep me from You,
that draw away my attention, my time….my heart.

I’m unplugging from
the sources that tell me to compare,
to rate myself against someone I was never meant to be,
and to forget that I find my identity in You.

I’m choosing to
not go to those places anymore
that produce anxiety and fear
because they speak lies about Who you’ve created me to be.

I’m unplugging from
the world
and
instead
I’m choosing to plug into Truth.

My best friend sent me this link today, and I wholeheartedly agree with it. I did not start this blog to do anything more than to create a medium for me to ‘journal’ in a new way, one that would hopefully encourage those that run across it and challenge me to be more open, honest, & willing to be humbled by admiting my struggles and faults, in the hopes that it would bless someone else that reads it. (I also LOVE spiritual growth discussions, so that is just a side benefit if others choose to engage in the topic.)

A Blogger’s Prayer (Upside Down Blogging)

I can’t vouch for anything else on this person’s blog, although I would expect that it would be nothing but uplifting, and I hope to discover more of it soon!

Praying your day is encouraging,
-jenny