February 24: Ask God’s Help With The Blue-Sky Pieces

Affirmation: Choose to be Authentic. Let go of what others think.

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Ponder, Personalize, Practice: As you focus on gratitude, begin to memorize Deuteronomy 7:9. Ponder each of the 3 phrases in this verse. What emotions or thoughts does this verse bring?

Deuteronomy 7:9

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments. 

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Catching Whimsy: 365 Days of Possibility by Bob Goff

                  February 24

Ask God’s Help With TheBlue-Sky Pieces

And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

When you are working through something tricky in life, one good way to organize your thoughts is to think about it like a jigsaw puzzle. The first thing you do when assembling a puzzle is find the four corners, right? In the same way, when you’re stuck on something in your life, the first thing you should do is think of the top four objectives or organizing principles you value, such as kindness, availability, loyalty, and honesty. These might be faith, family, friends, and finances. Listing your high values will no doubt be much longer, but try to pick just four things that are toward the top.

Once we find the corner pieces most of us try to find the edges. Think of the edge pieces as the connecting ideas and habits you either have or want to have to help you go after the important high value corner pieces you were aiming for.

Next, if you are like me, you will find the puzzle pieces that look like the fence or a large tree or something else recognizable and sort them into piles of matching pieces. Think of these piles as your ambitions, encompassed in the space between the high-value corners and the connecting ideas and habits in your life. Think of the individual pieces in the piles as the skills or opportunities you have already had.

This is a systematic and helpful approach to understanding what we are doing and why we are doing it. When we try to move forward without understanding those things, it’s like staring at a puzzle with the blue-sky pieces, which leave you without identifiable clues about how they fit into the bigger picture and will likely just leave you confused.

What puzzle are you working on in your life? Perhaps it is a confusing relationship or what you do for a day job. Don’t just drop off all the pieces with Jesus and expect Him to put it together for you.

Use the life experience and intellect.

 God is giving you to get as many pieces as you can in the right place, 

then ask for his wisdom to sort out the blue-sky pieces.