Leviticus 13; Psalms 15,16; Proverbs 27; 2 Thessalonians 1

²³ Know the state of your flocks,
    and put your heart into caring for your herds,
²⁴ for riches don’t last forever,
    and the crown might not be passed to the next generation.
²⁵ After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears
    and the mountain grasses are gathered in,
²⁶ your sheep will provide wool for clothing,
    and your goats will provide the price of a field.
²⁷ And you will have enough goats’ milk for yourself,
    your family, and your servant girls. (Proverbs 27:23-27, NLT, emphasis added)

My goal planner is broken down into time chunks: monthly, weekly, daily. I noticed connections linking monthly items to broad relationships, weekly tasks to discipline, and daily reminders to stewardship. But really, it is all about stewarding time, relationships, responsibilities well. These verses in Proverbs remind me to tend to what I have.

Put your heart into caring for …

¹⁹ As a face is reflected in water,
    so the heart reflects the real person. (Proverbs 27:19, NLT)

The Bible has a lot to say about heart, stewardship, wisdom, and focus.

¹¹ Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad.
    Then I will be able to answer my critics. (Proverbs 27:11, NLT)

It is hard for me to separate stewardship from God’s kingdom. When I acknowledge time, talent, and treasure are from him, I want to live more intentionally. This is all made possible because of his grace.

¹¹ So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. ¹² Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, NLT)

Lord, thank you for this time your word–for time that seems to slow down for me to look closely at the state of my flocks, the contemplation of my heart, and the alignment of my goals to your call.

Courtney (66books365)

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Numbers 2-5; Acts 14

I read of family, purpose and responsibility in Numbers. Families that are set aside under a banner with specific tasks to lead in a direction, to carry special cargo or to manage a task. These themes are deeply meaningful to me. Family members are counted. They are unified in a common goal to serve as the Lord directs.

Again, these themes are deeply meaningful to me. I sit with the words and hold them like a precious gift.

Acts 14 and Paul and Barnabas are met with opposition. They flee to preach the Good News elsewhere and encounter a man with crippled feet.

⁸ While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. He had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. He was sitting ⁹ and listening as Paul preached. Looking straight at him, Paul realized he had faith to be healed. ¹⁰ So Paul called to him in a loud voice, “Stand up!” And the man jumped to his feet and started walking (Acts 14:8-10, NLT, emphasis added).

Father God, I am so thankful that when you look at me, you see worth, a daughter, a beloved. Thank you for bringing me into your family and entrusting me with tasks and responsibilities for your glory and my good. Oh, even if my father and mother abandon me, you Lord will hold me close.

Courtney (66books365)

Exodus 5-8; Luke 18

My friend for more than twenty-five years died the other week. I listened as his wife spoke in eulogy of his lifetime–told about this man I loved, and shared many things about him I never knew. He had delightful interests, so much talent, and his life story was full and generous and loving and adventurous. How I wished I’d had more time with him–he was truly like a father to me. His life, even in death, continues to inspire me: to live in purpose, on purpose.

The weight of grief, worry, strife and stress has felt oppressive in recent years–these things can take me off course, derail me from life and its purposes. I live in the woods, and find myself wishing I was deeper in the forest, averting my eyes and sometimes my heart from making contact—it feels an awful lot like despair.

I’m not sure if it’s circumstance or the things one tells himself or hears from others, but I hear it in Pharaoh’s voice as he tells Moses, “Moses and Aaron, why are you distracting the people from their tasks? Get back to work! ⁵ Look, there are many of your people in the land, and you are stopping them from their work (Exodus 5:4-5, NLT).”

I can get caught up in the task (of work or routine or stress or grief) at hand, that my focus is redirected into a worldly (small) view instead of a deeper calling and purpose. And whether one places it upon himself, or it’s the voices of those in his life, Kingdom work and purpose can become muddled and muted. Moses and Aaron weren’t distracting the people from their tasks–they were pointing them to it. The world gets it so very backwards, and I fall for it too. Too many hoops, too many tasks, too much people pleasing and accommodating that I neglect the very One who gives me strength, neglect the passions He’s put in my heart and compromise my focus and time until I am weary and worn out. It feels an awful lot like despair.

⁶ “Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the Lord. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. ⁷ I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt. ⁸ I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as your very own possession. I am the Lord!’”

⁹ So Moses told the people of Israel what the Lord had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery (Exodus 6:6-9 NLT).

Lord, repeatedly I train myself to order my tasks but to keep my eyes on you. Again. Again. When my focus slips to what’s in front of me, I forget what’s inside of me and what’s ahead of me. The shrill of the ringtone, the chipping away at peace, when I lose sight of you, I become too discouraged too.

I set my thoughts on a Kingdom purpose, a Kingdom focus.

²⁹ “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the Kingdom of God, ³⁰ will be repaid many times over in this life, and will have eternal life in the world to come (Luke 18:29-30, NLT).”

That rich man was disheartened because, perhaps, his (wealth/success/pride/ability) was his real focus, not the inheritance of eternal life he believed he wanted.

Lord, help me to do what I need to do, and let go of what needs to go. I want to walk in truth, and keep my eyes focused on you. Thank you for a friend like David, whose life spoke of intention and inclusion, generosity and love. Thank you for challenging me to see things in a new way, for revealing truths I didn’t see, and for reminding me to seek your Kingdom first.

Courtney (66books365)