Daily Summaries: A new level of randomness: 2

Aldo Nova has a song “Fantasy”. It seems I have an impression that his record company had an issue and Aldo Nova could no longer make money off the original version. No idea if it is true, but I always liked the song. I never seem to use the word in my vocabulary which means I probably do not know or like the definition. After reading the definition that includes “in response to psychological need” I assume I do not like it.

The topics for the week include a phrase “willingly thankful” that sticks me as odd. Many times in my life I have sought to get things done myself and try to save up asking for help for when I really need it. I really needed help getting the 911 out of the garage the other day when the ceiling was about to collapse, and the battery was dead. I was perfectly willing to ask for help and be thankful when I got it. This phrase makes me think maybe I should be ready to ask for help anytime. I know I should feel that way about God, but I never really seem to think that way, and definitely not about other people.

If I wrap the ideas of fantasy and do it myself together, I get an impression of my mom and how I knew that her desire to not be a burden was missing the mark. One of the other concepts of the week was “cast your cares” and relates to giving worries over to God. I eventually decided that I could not fix my mom and I needed to wait until God was ready for me to take action. Maybe my pride created a fantasy I could live with about my actions and the command to honor our father and mother.

“A praying father“ was a topic of the week and is a goal I have that I am praying for my kids. We prayed with Big D every night when she was little and we still do with little d. I am not sure that is exactly the perfect model of “a praying father” that was intended, but I have always thought that it was better to do me, than to try and be this fantastical idea of a father that I am not.

“His not mine” is a topic that I identify with and strive to match with our overall finances. I am not perfect in this area by any means, but I realize that once again I have narrowed the meaning of the phrase to one I am comfortable with. My kids are His, not mine, and I have to admit I do not stay on top of all the opportunities to share Him and His impact on me with them.

One of the best parts of last week was recognizing the “Immovable Goal Posts” of a relationship with God. God did not care if we had power, had water, or were cold nearly as much as He cared if I sat down and did my daily readings and spent time with Him. When I was reading alone with Him, I knew that of all the opportunities to do different that I had passed up in my life, the only things that mattered were when I chose to do His calling in the moment. We can live joyful lives in the midst of anything this world has to offer, because God and His immovable goal posts.

It is always good to remember that when I follow God and move towards these immovable goal posts, success is not in the achieving, but in the trying. “Focus on effort, not outcome” was how this topic presented itself during the week and I have to relinquish the need to see results of my efforts outside myself. I want to impact people and I would love to see people respond to Christ based on my efforts, but in reality, those are supernatural things between them and God and I can only grow by allowing God to supernaturally work on me.

The last topic of the week and a fun one is the idea ”We are the 1%, spiritually.” People are made to want more. More intimacy with God, more money, or more stuff. We hear the media belittle the 1% financially in this country as if having money was a disease to be avoided and anyone who gets there needs to give it all away and be dependent on the government. People with no power last week in Texas sure were not happy to have let the government take care of everything for them. The government sure has not helped me figure out what to do with the wet sheet rock in trash bags at the end of my driveway.

Regardless of our desire to be in that 1% financially and what that means for us, we should desire to be, and in fact know that we are, in the 1% spiritually as no one can have a better relationship to God than we can have through the blood of Jesus Christ. Something I read made reference to maybe only 25% of people becoming Christian. 1 in 4. Sobering. When little d was little, she said she loved everyone. 100% of the people. God loves 100% of the people. He loved each individual enough to give His one and only Son. I was that 1 in however many. I am in that top 1%. You are in that top 1%. It is a big deal, and it is not limited to any number. It can be 100% and each one can be in the top 1%. I feel I have to give a lot of love if I am going to fulfill that 1% ideal. Being among the top 1% givers spiritually. That seems a worthy goal even the media could not mess up. Right?