Thank you Sunflowers

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Thank you Sunflowers

Miesje picked this verse for this week’s devotional.

Galatians 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. "

What a wonderful blessing to be free. I love THIS song by the Newsboys. We sing it often at our church. What an admonition to stand firm and not become slaves again. I spent sometime thinking about ways that we can be slaves.
To me it seems that as a society we prefer the word addiction to slavery. I have a friend and coworker who is a slave to smoking. Just this last week we had a conversation about how she would like to quit, but how her addiction controls her life. I have another friend who is a slave to alcohol. She knows that it is bad for her, but she still drinks. I’ll admit it is easier to see other’s slavery than it is to see my own. It made me think of the following scripture from Matthew 7:1-5 1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
So I asked God to show me my plank. What are my addictions? As hard as it is to admit it, I struggle with my slavery to food and my slavery to my computer. As soon as I wake up I think about food. I think about food all day long. This slavery to food has added extra weight and health problems like high blood pressure.
My addiction to my computer became evident to me the other day when we lost internet all day because a cable was cut. I found myself going to the computer to check several times to see if it was back.
It seems that I justify my addictions by comparing them to others. I want to think that mine aren’t as bad as others, because:
1. I have to eat, everyone has to eat.
2. I need my computer to get my work done.
When does something that we need become our master? When it takes priority in our lives to the will of God. My prayer this week is that Christ will take first place in my life, and that the Holy Spirit is the controlling force for my days.

The challenge this week is to make a red white and blue thank you card. The winner will get 3 digis from Ginger Loft. Tami gave me this digi to make my card. I love butterflies and sunflowers so I had a lot of fun making this card. Last year my kids and I saw some red sunflowers growing by a barn.