July 16: I USED TO HOPE THE THINGS I DID WOULD WORK.

Affirmation: I allow myself to love who I am…not who I “should” be.

Allow yourself to appreciate who you are and value who God made you to be. When you love yourself, your love for God and others will also increase.Love you! 

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Ponder: Ponder and meditate and memorize these 3 verses. As you go through your day, pray the 1st sentence: “Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.” As you move through your day, repeat this verse as your prayer.

“Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Remember Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from days of old. Psalm 25:4-6~~~~~~~~

Reading for Today

Walk in Grace. Live in Love. by Bob Goff

                      July 16

I USED TO HOPE THE THINGS I DID WOULD WORK. NOW I HOPE THEY LAST. 

We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 

2 CORINTHIANS 4:18 

Every year our street has a parade to kick off the New Year. We started it when my kids were young because they were all bored on a New Year's Day and were looking for something to do. I tossed out the idea of starting a parade where no one watched but everyone was in it. About five minutes later, we started knocking on doors and telling our neighbors we needed them to show up. Part of me wondered if people would think we were crazy, but none of us knows what will happen until we ask. 

It's a few decades later, and we're still knocking on our neighbors' doors to invite them. Instead of dozens of people, there are hundreds of them. The rule has remained the same. Everybody in; nobody watching. There's a Grand Marshal to lead the way, and we always pick a New Year's Day Queen from the people on the block. The annual event has turned into a celebration of life and community and the power of love without an agenda. 

When Jesus told a lawyer like me who was trying to set Him up that the most important commandment included loving our neighbors, it's easy to think this is a metaphor for something else. But it's not. Jesus wants us to love people right where we are. I think He knew that we'd be tempted to go somewhere far away for a week of service and call it good. My hope when I was younger was that I would do things and they would "work." These days, I want to do things that will last. Loving your neighbor will last. 

Invest in things that last. If you have to choose between projects and people, pick people every time. Projects work or they don't. Loving people lasts. Of all the things we accomplish in this life, only love remains. Go big on love and let the rest work itself out. 

What are you investing in today that lasts? From Jacque: For me, I am investing in our family, friends, Cypress Meadows Community Church, Springs of Hope Kenya and Shiloh Church & School in Haiti.