Change takes time. Usually when I try to change something in my life, I do really well… for not very long! 🙂
That’s because I need God. We often try to “pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.” During our first lesson, we talked about the need to come to God for forgiveness. Because of the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, who paid all the penalty for your sin with His death on the cross, God is happy to offer you forgiveness.
I’ve been praying for you every day, and my prayer went something like this:
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9).
God wants to remake your family from the inside out! I’m excited to see how He’s going to do that!
Of course, He expects you to do some work, too. The Bible says,
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord [or “master” of your life], continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught…” (Colossians 2:6-7).
Colossians 3 is full of great advice for “family first aid.” Some of my favorite verses tell me exactly what to do:
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:5-10).
Change is just like getting dressed in the morning — which was your first assignment, wasn’t it?
“Take off your old self”
“Put on the new self”
The “new self” has clothes like these:
- compassion
- kindness
- humility
- gentleness
- patience
- forgiveness
- love
- peace
- thankfulness
Wow…
We won’t be able to get all these “new clothes” into your spiritual wardrobe in just one day, but your assignment is to start reading Colossians 3. Yup, every day for the next 3 days!
You can even read it online at
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%203&version=NIV1984
Next, just as you’ve been eating breakfast, making yourself look nice in the morning, and organizing your purse, you’re now going to start taking time to organize your day. A famous saying is, “Those who fail to plan are planning to fail.” You may want to make changes in your home and family life, but if you don’t make TIME for those changes in your schedule, they’ll probably never happen.
Take a moment now to read an article online, then come back for some assignments. (Don’t worry — it will open in a new window, so you won’t lose your place here.)
“Scheduling My Life,” by Amanda Formaro
http://www.digital-women.com/how-to/howto03h.htm
Now I want you to actually take out a piece of paper from your new notebook, as the author recommended.
Write down everything you wish you could accomplish in a day. Remember to write down how long each task will take.
I want you to add a few things to your list, if you haven’t included these already.
- Time to spend with God each day. Fifteen minutes is a good start. Try to read your Bible first thing every morning, before you get side-tracked with other things and forget.
- Time to read books each day. What?! You don’t really like to read? Well, why not try just a little bit of reading by planning for it in your day?
These little blog posts will never be able to address everything that God wants to do in your home, so that’s why I recommend books. In fact, by the end of this month, I’m going to recommend over 15 books!
However, if your life is a mess, you might feel that time for reading is a luxury you can’t take. Many women say they’ve never liked to read, so they can’t imagine reading 15 books! I’d like you to realize that growing your inner life is absolutely vital! So, to make it happen, schedule time for it in your day.
We’ll add some more things as we work through these 10 lessons, but for now, let’s get a rough-draft schedule on paper.
Make a simple schedule for your day. I’d do it in pencil, since you’ll probably change it many times. You can print a form for this at http://donnayoung.org/household/fullsize/timers.htm.
Wow, we’ve done a lot for just one day, haven’t we? Thank you for sticking with me. Let’s review your homework:
- Read Colossians 3.
- Read it again tomorrow — and the next day, too! 🙂
- Make a list of everything you wish you could accomplish in a day (and how long it would take you).
- Make a rough-draft schedule for your day. (Remember it will probably change as you work through this course.)
I’m proud of you! I’m also praying for you! I even have an email pop-up reminder set to nag me to pray for you several times each day. I can’t wait to see what God will do in your life.
Hugs,
P.S. Here’s a fun poll…
[poll id=”3″]
