An Easter Gift for You

This Easter weekend is so tricky, isn't it?

To live "in the story". To pay attention.

Like today for example: Silent Saturday. It's a sacred day. We would do well to rest, as God and Jesus did, as the disciples, the women, all the Jewish folk observed Sabbath rest. Be still, be quiet, wait, watch. Trust. Don't worry or fret. No mindless chatter or activity.

Yet here I am, doing laundry, changing over winter curtains to spring/summer, running over to church to set up for tomorrow's Resurrection breakfast, hanging wreaths, prepping coffee pots. Next, I'll run to the store to make sure we have all the fixins for Scott to make his "famous" lemon pie (aka Joanna Gaines' famous lemon pie), his new empty nest hobby.

I was still this morning for a few hours early. I finished my Lent devotional. I prayed. I thanked God for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I thanked Jesus for dying on the cross for my sins. I marveled that He raised Himself from the dead and lives today. I cried a little when I thanked Him for being my Savior and inviting me to join His family. For my secure position in it.

I have a few cards on which I've typed a series of statements that I review and state aloud in prayer a few times a week. A practice of "preaching the Gospel to myself". I've often heard messages encouraging this but wasn't sure how to go about it - so didn't for a long time - but often wondered if I was missing something important.

At the end of every year, I become the most annoying member of our family, like clockwork. I virtually chase everyone around inviting (alright, alright, insisting) each grownup consider taking on something new, or letting go of something unnecessary or unprofitable, or perhaps adding a spiritual discipline (birthday gift for Jesus, maybe?) in hopes of placing themself in a position for spiritual growth for the next twelve months. (Notice I never call it a new year's resolution or goal - nobody digs that.)

What made this past New Year's different, was that my grown kids were home in my house. 24/7 access. Can you picture it and feel their excitement? This time I had an extra request of them. I asked for their input into one of my NY endeavors. I asked my three and their spouses, "What book(s) have you read that really marked your faith? You know, helped you grow and consequently respond in such a huge, line-in-the-sand kind of way that you recommend them to others or refer back to them again and again?" I want to read what they are reading. 

One title was given by all three of my kids. Turns out it was required reading when they attended Word of Life Bible Institute. It's a small, ancient little thing - A Gospel Primer for Christians by Milton Vincent. 

I found a copy in a basket of devotionals next to my morning chair, dusted it off and began in January. Part 1 is 31 readings called Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily and Part 2 puts them in a brief list form which this Type A listmaker is most grateful for.

I was hooked right away and I tell you I understand the Gospel on a much deeper level now though I've been walking with Jesus and studying the Bible for 39 years. AND I get what preaching the Gospel to myself means practically and have a list in which to do it! Finally!

This list has enhanced my prayer time in many ways; what I talk to God about, what I ask Him for, what I don't need to ask Him for, and simply my level of gratitude and understanding. So good! 

As if all this wasn't thrilling enough, as I was making these discoveries, I said to my husband, "I wish I had a laminator so I could print these out, laminate and keep in my Bible." 

You're not going to believe what he said.

"The church has a laminator." 

My whole life changed in that moment. 

So did his.

Obviously, I can't print and laminate all of you a copy, but if you're interested in this game changing practice of preaching the Gospel to yourself every day, I'm just going to leave this list here for you. 

Read it regularly. Read it slowly. Maybe only a few lines a day. Really let it sink in. Change the pronouns so that it becomes prayer. 

I guarantee it will get you out of any funk you find yourself in, bring you encouragement on your worst day, change your complaints or entitlement to gratitude, take your eyes off self and put them on Jesus and others, give you a clear understanding of who God is, how He feels about you and what your purpose is, and just overall fill you with the fullness of joy Jesus died to give you. 

That is what we're celebrating this weekend, isn't it?

Happy Easter, dear friends. He is Risen!

Preaching the Gospel To Myself Everyday

My God is immense beyond imagination. He measured the entire universe with merely the span of His hand.

He is unimaginably awesome in all of His perfections, absolutely righteous, holy, and just in all of His ways.

He has also been unbelievably good and merciful to me as the Creator and Sustainer of my life.

Every breath, every heartbeat, every function of every organ in my body is a gift from Him.

Every legitimate pleasure I experience is a gift from His loving hand to me.

All that I am and all that I have I owe to Him and to His goodness.

My life in every way is, and will continue to be, utterly dependent upon Him in whom I live and move and have my being.

This wonderful God is the most supremely worthy Object of admiration, honor and delight in all of the universe.

He has created me with the intention that I might glorify Him by finding my soul’s delight in Him and by living in joyful obedience to Him in all of my ways.

Yet I could not have failed this great God more miserably than I have.

Instead of giving thanks to Him and humbly submitting to His rule over my life, I have rebelled against Him and have actually sought to exalt myself above Him.

Going my own way and living according to my own wisdom, I have broken countless times either the letter or the spirit of every one of God’s Ten Commandments.

Thinking myself to be wise, I have shown myself to be a fool; and because of my arrogance, God has every right to damn me to the everlasting experience of His terrifying wrath in the lake of fire.

So as for myself, apart from Christ I am bound by the guilt of my sins and also bound by the power of sin, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures.

Apart from Christ, I am so utterly deserving of and destined for eternal punishment in the lake of fire, completely unable to save myself or even to make one iota of a contribution to my own salvation.

However, what I could not do, God did – and in doing it, He did it all, sending His own Son into the world to die on the cross for my sins, thereby showing me unfathomable love.

God loved me so much that He was willing to suffer the loss of His Son, and even more amazingly, He was willing to allow His Son to suffer the loss of Him at the cross.

Jesus loved me so much that He was willing to lay down His life for me. No one could ever love me more or better than Jesus.

On the third day after Jesus’ death, God raised Him from the dead, thereby announcing that His death was completely sufficient to atone for every sin that I have or will commit throughout my lifetime.

God then exalted Christ to His own right hand, where Christ now reigns from on high, granting salvation and forgiveness to all who call on Him by faith.

Now when my time came and I placed my faith in Jesus, God instantly granted me a great salvation.

He forgave me of all my sins, past, present, and future.

He made me His child, adopting me into His family.

He gave me the gift of the Holy Spirit, who gives me God’s power, who pours out God’s love within my heart, and who tenderly communicates to my spirit that I am a child of God and an heir of eternal glory in heaven.

In saving me, God also freed me from slavery to any and all sins.

I no longer have to sin again, for sins’s mastery over me has been broken!

In saving me, God also justified me, and being justified through Christ, I have a peace with God that will endure forever.

In justifying me, God declared me innocent of my sins and pronounced me righteous with the very righteousness of Jesus.

God also made complete peace with His future and present wrath against me by Jesus, who bore it upon Himself while on the cross.

Consequently, God now has only love, compassion, and deepest affection for me, and this love is without any mingling of wrath whatsoever.

God always looks upon me and treats me with gracious favor, always working all things together for my ultimate and eternal good.

God’s grace abounds to me even through trials.

Because I am a justified one, He takes mastery over every trial and forces it to do good unto me.

When I sin, God’s grace abounds to me all the more as He graciously maintains my justified status as described above.

When I sin, God feels no wrath in His heart against me.

His heart is filled with nothing but love for me, and He longs for me to repent and confess my sins to Him, so that He might show me the gracious and forgiving love that has been in His heart all along.

God does not require my confession before He desires to forgive me.

In His heart He has already forgiven me; and when I come to Him to confess my sins to Him, He runs to me (as it were) and is repeatedly embracing and kissing me even before I get the words of my confession out of my mouth!

God does see my sins, and He is grieved by my sins. His grief comes partly from the fact that in my moments of sin, I am not receiving the fullness of His love for me.

He even sends chastisement into my life; but He does so because He is for me, and He loves me; and He disciplines me for my ultimate good.

I don’t deserve any of this, even on my best day; but this is my salvation, and in it I stand.

Thank you, Jesus.

Live in The Story

Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. Some of you know this because you've already been engaged in this sacred season through fasting, praying and giving to the poor these past six weeks.

But this week things are ramping up. Can you feel it? Today, we remembered Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on an appointed donkey. He sat on the lowly animal and rode into the busy city while the crowd erupted into 'messianic joy' as one author put it. Men, women and children waved palm branches and laid their cloaks down for the donkey to trample over, a king's welcome. That's something. It would seem they knew who He was and what He could do for them. The Old Testament prophets said it would happen this way.

I walked that downhill road four years ago when I had the tremendous privilege of visiting the Holy Land. It's a narrow path, not like American parade routes two car lanes wide. No, anyone on the street could probably have reached out and touched Jesus if they wanted to. I want to.

What especially struck me this morning as I listened to my favorite Preacher read the familiar Bible verses was that Jesus received all the praise and affection and joy from the multitude knowing that every single person waving their branch, shouting their cheers would turn on Him - some violently - in the next few days. All of them.

Still, He loved them. Loves them. Loves you. Loves me. 

He willingly died for all sins - past, present and future. 

Jesus factored in all of my sins before He ever offered salvation to me, and I said yes. Ah, this is why we need sacred holidays and times of remembrance. 

My husband invited our people to live in The Story this coming week leading up to The Big Day, Easter Sunday. Something significant happened each day in Jesus' life this Holy Week so long ago. He overturned tables in the Temple, He washed His disciples' feet, He spoke last words, He prayed, and so much more. 

Now, I'm inviting you too. Enter the narrative every day. It's not hard to do. Read the Gospels. Stop at the end of each day. Pick it up the next. Consider where you would have stood. Participant. Spectator. Worshiper. Scoffer. Believer. Doubter. Feel the emotions. 

We can all do it. We should. Feel the weight of Jesus' suffering - and His willingness to take it upon Himself because of love for you. Remember the cost. Believe the love. Consider your response.

Go to church services. Especially Good Friday and obviously, Resurrection Sunday. There's no more important place to be, I promise.

There's a lot to think about between now and then. If we're going to give it the weight it deserves and an appropriate response, it's going to take some time. I hope you will join me in clearing out needed space and turning down distracting noise and unnecessary activity to live in The Story this week and ask God to show you the wonder in something new or something familiar.

 I'd even love to chat with you about your findings.

P.S. The songs! Listen to the songs. For those of you my age and older, dust off those Sandy Patti cd's. Play them loud and proud. Sing with gusto. Was it a morning like this? Who will call Him King of Kings? Unshakeable Kingdom, anyone? How about I've just seen Jesus? All of them!

If you're really hip, you can just ask Alexa to play them. She'll do it. Ask me how I know.

Take It

A good friend/spiritual mentor of mine told me many years ago that he always has a book on prayer going because his prayer life can always be improved. I've never forgotten that and try to keep that practice myself as my prayer practices, too, can always be improved.

Earlier in the summer, as I wrapped up a slowly savored, wonderful book titled "Deeper" by Dane Ortlund, the author recommended his favorite book on prayer. I perked up. (Little known fact: I can. not. resist a book suggestion.) Naturally, I whipped out my phone, clicked on the Amazon app, and the next day it was on my front porch. I do not take this speed and ease for granted.

I devoured "A Praying Life" by Paul E. Miller and was both encouraged (I'm doing some of these things!) and challenged (girl, what about this?) by it. (Yes, you should grab a copy of both titles. You'll thank me.) Here's a smidge - "Prayer is all about relationship. It's intimate and hints at eternity. Jesus made extravagant promises about prayer. He encourages us to ask boldly and surrender completely. One easier than the other but both necessary together."

In tandem with highlighting page after page, I was living life, you know? And trying to put what I was learning into practice. Then, I attended two funerals in one week of women who loved Jesus and served Him wholeheartedly to the end of their 70-year-old and 91-year-old lives. You know I brought pen and paper to both memorial services. 

A pastor shared how one of these grandmas prayed for her grandchildren. It really stopped me in my tracks and caused me to question if I could pray such a bold prayer: "Lord, you know our hearts and you know the future. If any of my grandchildren are not going to accept Jesus' offer of salvation and live their lives for Him, take them young (before reaching an age of accountability) so they don't receive hell as their final destination." Whoa.

Such an unusual prayer stays with you. I'm not sure how I could tell my children I've chosen to pray this for theirs. It's huge. It's bold.

But it's also smart and eternity driven. It's long game thinking which is what we've always tried to have in front of us while parenting our three. 

This is the stuff of hard-core faith. Eternity is the long game. This lifespan on earth is a blip we're told in comparison. The good stuff, the reward, paradise - is yet to come and what every decision we make, every prayer we speak should point to.

I hear the Spirit whisper (not in actual words, but in my thoughts) that this isn't the only area for such a boss prayer.

A darling young woman I love is standing on the edge of a new relationship with a young man. She met him online and is about to test the waters with an in-person visit. I texted her on the big day. 

"I wrote a poem for you. 

Today's the day-

how shall we pray?"

She giggled. Then we teased it out. She said she was praying bold prayers, so I challenged her to kick it up a notch. "Let's ask God to raise any red flags right away." Check.

I dared plunge deeper. "What if you offered your Father permission to say no? 'Lord, if a relationship with this man will cause my heart to fall away from you, take it. Don't let me have this.'?"

Kind of tests what's in the heart, doesn't it? Don't you wish you had me for a friend?

As always, Holy Spirit doesn't let me get away with this kind of counsel without turning the mirror around. So I asked: What in my life can I offer God to take if it's going to cause my heart to distance myself from Him? What might lure me away from intimacy with God and into self-pleasure, sin even? An entitled expectation that I deserve something or someone perhaps?

Take it.

If I'm worried about living a large life, comfortable, stress-free dream life, worrying and controlling outcomes, working myself to exhaustion to make it happen and not looking to You to write my story, take it. 

If I'm going to stress over investment in my bank account, 401k retirement savings, and what's happening with the stock market, panicking like You won't take care of me, showing no faith in Your promised provision, take it.

If I'm living from pleasure to pleasure insisting on doing things my way failing to consult Your Word and obedience to it, refusing to deny self, disregarding Your boundaries while grabbing what You've not given, and these keep me from loving You with my whole heart, seeking more of You to share with others, take it.

If I'm clinging to another person(s) to validate me, value me, love me as only You can and I fail or forget to make my most important relationship with You, God, built on Your unfailing, covenant love, take it.

I could go on. 

Seems risky, no? Oh, to love Jesus more than any other thing or person. There are endless counterfeits - all hostile and powerful to keep us from devoting ourselves wholeheartedly to the only thing that matters. The Only One who matters.

What do I have to be afraid of? Psalm 84:11 tells me, "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly."

And James 1:17 boasts "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights."

Which begs the question, do I believe the Father loves me? Where is THAT written?

If you wonder, I beg you to read the Bible. From cover to cover, you can't miss it. More times than I can count His love and desire for all of mankind to draw near to Him that we may become His people so that He can bless us forever is repeated. Paraphrased yes, but it's there.

The matter comes down to a few questions. Do we trust the love of our Father in heaven and the gifts He chooses to give us (lavish on us as the text reads) to be gratifying and fulfilling enough? More than what we want right now - what's in front of us? Or do we desperately (perhaps impatiently) take or demand what He hasn't given - even if it will cause us to love Him less?

God forbid. 

I am proud of my friend who accepted the challenge to give God control over her new relationship. She's learning that if Jesus can be trusted with her salvation and eternal life, He can be trusted with every area of her earthly life. She's inviting Him to do His will, not just hers (but hoping they are the same, which is totally cool).

The older I get the less I even trust my own prayers - especially the passionate ones where I beg for what I want when I want it the way I want it. I heard it said once that we can't pray for God's will in a situation until we don't care what it is.

Yes, I love that place. His will. Not mine. It's safe. It surrounds me with God's care which never fails. It surprises me with delight and abundance. Don't miss that.

It reminds me of the prayer I shared from the sister above and now add my voice to. Knowing Jesus and living our lives for His glory is the only way to live. If anything, or anyone threatens that level of devotion in my life (or that of those I love), take it. 

I believe our Father esteems and receives that prayer because He digs when His children trust Him. 

Lastly, it must be recorded that looking back and seeing the many things He has taken - some with my invitation and some not (because He protected me) - none of them are missed. Not one. Father knows best.

The Goodness of Summer

Living in the northeastern United States brings a treasure of natural and cultural delights. Four distinct seasons extreme from each other in many ways, most anticipated enthusiastically, arriving usually later than we wish while sometimes wearing out their welcome, staying too long. But, always perfectly executed year after year. I adore this.

Typically, we love some aspects and dislike (hate?) others - the extremes I suppose. Still, I find there is always something of each to enjoy. 

Every season shines in some way during its turn in the calendar year. This is a reflection of the wonderful, delightful diversity of our Creator God's fingerprints. What He's lavished out for our enjoyment and pleasure.

It's no secret that winter is my favorite season for so many reasons I won't get into today lest I dampen the summer lovers' current bliss. When summer humidity suffocates, burns the color out of the grass, and forces me indoors to the relief of air conditioning, this is only underscored. 

However, I have lived enough years to know loving one but not the other, doesn't diminish the value or the gifts to behold in the lesser-loved. These can be enjoyed without hypocrisy. And they should be - with gratitude even!

That's what's on my mind today - the stuff that's been bringing me much joy in my not favorite season. The things that aren't to be found any other time of the year - that scream "summer"! 

What better way for a Type A observer to pay attention and squeeze out the wonder than keeping a list? 

• a baseball game with fireworks at dusk on a warm (not muggy) night
• a small town Main Street lined with red, white and blue flags 
• aged veterans saluting 4th of July parades, kids scampering for candy 
• kindergarten graduations (even if your beloved firstborn granddaughter wants to be a rockstar - not a missionary)
• country drives boasting fields and hills lush with green grass and trees bursting with leaves (and the wonder of how they die, fall off and replenish every year)
• boat rides on an Adirondack lake
• flip flops and no coats
• neighbors with green thumb excellence - hello gorgeous color bursting zinnias!
• slow, evening marital walks
• cool pool or lake water on hot, brown shoulders
• a barbecue at a friend's pool; dinner eaten on a red gingham tablecloth covered picnic table
• meeting outside with the Lord early every morning for Bible reading and prayer
• marveling at how a robin builds a nest in my hanging fern, fills it with gorgeous blue eggs, sitting on them until babies are born soon thereafter (the thrill wearing off when Mommy and Daddy Bird chase me off MY porch for days until their littles are ready to fly. Not cool.)
• thunderstorms at dusk - or anytime
• garage sales
• the sounds of owls hooting high above, roosters announcing morning and birds singing their praise to God - all before 6am
• graduation parties 
• ice cream stands on every corner - endless soft serve flavors with sprinkles or a hot fudge/pb sundae splurge
• grandchildren with bubbles
• vegetable stands and farmer's markets - locally grown delicious produce
• summer foods - corn on the cob, strawberry rhubarb anything, hot dogs, burgers, deviled eggs, watermelon, salt potatoes
• campfires and s'mores
• grandbaby in cute hat experiencing a pool for the first time
• marshmallow fights with my grown-up kids, while their littles giggle at the spectacle and join in
• the hum and relief of a window air conditioner and fan on steamy nights
• 80's beach music (The Cars, Huey Lewis and the News, Beach Boys, anyone?)
• neighbors not seen in other seasons, walking by, saying, "Hello, how are you?"
• outdoor amphitheater concerts
• hikes and picnics in parks
• vacation time off work
• sunsets when the moon can't wait for dark to start shining
• women fanning themselves during a Sunday morning worship service
• skipping evening tv to read in rocking chairs on the porch with my husband
• bike rides, wind in my hair (summer novels - so fun!)
• any meal eaten outside - shouldn't they all be? 

And that's just a few. :) I bet you could add some too. 

When my kids were growing up (and still today) I've been known to say from April to October: "Get outside - winter's coming!" This not to rush the summer by, but rather to exhort, "let's enjoy what the glorious outdoors offers before we are driven inside by cooler (cold, frigid) temperatures and conditions (glorious snow!)".

It's easy to complain about the undesirables in each season, isn't it? They really get under our skin. Mosquitoes pestering and biting, walking through invisible spider webs, (have I mentioned humidity?), sunburns, road construction, etc. 

But to find the thrills? To squeal with delight at the wonder God has given to us in June, July and August? This belongs to the wise and curious who know this season will end, the next one right on its heels. Happens every year without fail. Why not squeeze all the good out of the one you're firmly planted in?

Sometimes I even welcome the notion that one can't fully enjoy the wonder of winter unless summer has sweat us ready. Same going the other way - how can one enjoy summer to the full if not having survived a frigid winter? Call me crazy.

You get the idea. The joy comes with being grateful for everything today brings. So much to notice and thank the Lord for!

Feel free to add some of your summer joys in the comments. We've still got about half way to go!

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For the Graduates and the Rest of Us

Last summer, we celebrated countless weddings. I was at HomeGoods every week it seems combing through the kitchen section. One for the couple (and one for me). Not really. Well, sometimes.

This summer seems to be the year of graduations. High school, college, grad school. So many smart people I know! As I write my congratulations and well-wishes in one card (or book!) after another I find myself wanting to pen a volume of counsel and maybe even a few warnings. You know, the "learn from my mistakes" type.

I think back a few decades (ahem) to the shaky end of my high school career and wonder what my party guests could have imparted by way of advice to guide me on my way to adulthood. Something more than just "Great job!", "You did it!" and "Have fun in college!" Wisdom, perhaps, that would have helped in every season. Nuggets I would remember and maybe still need when I got older - like now.

Once firmly planted in my twenties, I began seeking friendships with older women. I didn't have many friends my own age having left high school and its immature drama in the rearview mirror. I was craving something though I couldn't name it at the time.

I accepted every woman's invitation into homes and studies; even inviting myself from time to time. I loved sitting in their kitchens, watching them prepare meals, interact with their husbands, discipline their children, serve at church. I asked endless questions especially from the ones I deemed having "done something right." I wanted what they had.

I understand now I was looking for wisdom. I ached for the ability to make better decisions going forward than I had in the not-too-distant past of adolescence. I had been a teenage trainwreck and needed a new and better path for life going forward. I desired my new faith in and relationship with Jesus to be the focus of it. But how? 

I could answer that question in a myriad of ways. Pray. Read your bible. Love God. Go to church and serve in it. Cultivate authentic relationships with other Christ-followers. Try not to sin. Learn from those further down the road, be obedient to and led by the Spirit and so much more. But for graduates, consider this.

The Book of Proverbs is a good place to start. It's important to know this is not a book of promises, guarantees or formulas for success. Rather, it is a volume of teachings on how to live skillfully, honoring God and others with your one life. 

It was written by the wisest man in history for this purpose:

To know wisdom and instruction,

to understand words of insight,

to receive instruction in wise dealing,

in righteousness, justice and equity,

to give prudence to the simple,

knowledge and discretion to the youth - 

Let the wise hear and increase in learning,

and the one who understands obtain guidance.

Wisdom is not just being smart. It's skill, action and applied knowledge. Did you see all those glorious power words in verses 2-5 of chapter 1 up there? This is the stuff! This is what I wish I knew way back when.

One thing I can say with confidence is that these characteristics don't come by accident. You won't stumble upon them. They require intentionality. They must be pursued and sought out (verbs!)

Proverbs is not just a book of good advice. It's God's invitation to learn wisdom from previous generations; what the older know now that they wish they knew then. 

What have they discovered? The only thing that matters, that delivers joy and meaning is this; knowing God is the chief business of our lives. 

And that's my graduation advice - spend your life getting to know God. And I might add (because I can't just offer one thing), don't waste a minute of it on any lesser things. (Hint: Everything else is a lesser thing.)

Consider your life a house -

By wisdom a house is built,

and by understanding it is established,

by knowledge the rooms are filled

with all precious and pleasant riches.

Proverbs 24:3-4

Knowledge - having the facts.

Understanding - knowing how to discern what the facts mean and how things fit together in the big picture.

Wisdom - knowing how to apply knowledge and understanding into the everyday life of a Christ-follower.

But first, the foundation of the house must be laid, and it is found in 1:7...

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,

Fear here is defined as reverence and awe of who God is in relation to who I am and accepting God's idea of right and wrong. It's a moral mindset of "I am not God and don't get to make up the rules."

But there is a second part to the verse,

                                                ...fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

The Bible has plenty to say about the opposite of wisdom - foolishness, folly and where that will take a person. Disappointment, discouragement, broken lives, destruction, disaster and more.

Any questions?

I, for one, want to stay as far away from foolishness and folly as I can get. Imagine arriving at the middle or end of your life and finding you have always been known as a fool? Fear of the Lord, living in awe of who He is and according to His ways is the hands-down better option. It leads to the very best life and benefits everyone around us.

I often repeat to myself and my children a teaching from Andy Stanley that has proven extremely helpful. "In all the decisions you face, ask yourself the following question. 'Based on what you've experienced in the past, your current situation and where you want to end up in the future, is there wisdom in this?'"

Here's the thing I didn't fully comprehend at eighteen years old; every decision I make effects my future and someone else. Heeding that piece of advice could have saved me a good amount of pain and regret.

Not convinced yet? Read the Book of Proverbs for yourself. I triple dog dare you.

Graduates and the rest of us, there are choices before you that require action (verbs!): 

• Wisdom or foolishness? 
• Live according to His word, the Bible, or do things your way? 
• A God-blessed life or a life filled with regrets?

You can't have it both ways. You'll never slide into wisdom by being indifferent, but into foolishness you surely will. I pray you choose well. I'm cheering for you.

P.S. My husband will be preaching through the Proverbs this summer as our church pursues wisdom for living. You can watch messages here or listen to them here.