Own Your Box

Practice Silence: Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.

"Own your box." A dear friend spoke these words to me in the midst of a class. I was talking about my fears, how I felt others were competing with me and rather than letting God's call lead, I was allowing fear and insecurity to lead. She was telling me to own my call, to fully live into it.

We all have calls from God. A call can be a role like mother, sister or wife. A call can be a career like teacher, attorney, EMT or housekeeper. A call can be a vocation of ministry in the church, volunteering in the community or serving internationally. Our calls vary and are given by God. We have the choice whether to let fear and insecurities lead them or faith and trust. If God has given them, he knows what he is doing and it is good.

Last weekend I repeated my friend's words as I stood before a large group of people to speak. I did just that and guess what? I was having a blast and honoring God. God had called me to speak a word to these people. Owning our call is not about self-confidence, but confidence in the One who gave the call.

What are your calls? Are you owning them? Are you enjoying them? How is God honored and glorified by living fully into your calls?

Practice Silence Again: Sit quietly for as long as is available to you.

Called Out of Love

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    Some of you might be struggling to see goodness, worthiness and beauty. You might be struggling to see this in yourself. You look at the world around you and in your eyes, you don’t look that great. You compare, you get discouraged and you wonder if God’s call for you is out of pity. IT IS NOT.

    God does not call out of pity but out of love. God does not value you based on how you look, how well you perform or what you have accomplished. God’s call is based on His great love and He loves you unconditionally and not because He has to. He loves, that is WHO HE IS.

    My prayer for you today is that you would know the truth that is God’s love, the vast, overwhelming, unimaginable love that He pours on you. And from this love you would know and believe how He has called you to live in the world.

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Fear and Following

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    There are so many voices competing for our attention and following. Advertisers, friends, family, God, culture, etc. The noise is loud around us and it is difficult to hear God’s voice.

    King Saul said this about fear and following, “I have sinned … because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.”
   
    So often I fear what people think, what they will say or maybe even what they will do to me so I obey their voice. I obey what they think I should do, what they expect or maybe even something wrong. Because I care about self-preservation, being liked, etc and am afraid of people’s response, I listen to their voice. I fear and I follow.

    Many of us have heard God’s voice. We know what He is calling us to do. It may be spending time with your child rather than sending another email. It may be the call to teach and lead others rather than study alone and for yourself. Many of us have heard God’s voice but are afraid to follow because of what others will think, how they will respond, what they will do.

    How does fear of others lead you? How have you overcome that fear and allowed God to lead?

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**
Have more than two minutes? Read the story referred to above in 1 Samuel 15

Extra Work

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

“What God wants done clashes with what I want to do for Him.”
         Brennan Manning – The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus

    Noble as it sounds, often what we want to do for God is not what He is asking us to do. I have my list of virtuous offerings for God that would look good to the human eye. Yet my virtuous offerings have to do with me and how I want to serve (even if they are self-sacrificial and honorable) rather than how God is calling me. For some reason I think I know myself better and know what I best have to offer. If I would allow God, He will show me deeper parts of me and greater works than I could ever dream of. And here’s the kicker – His call would become exactly what I want to do and what God wants and what I want will slowly align.

    To discern what God wants means that I actually take the time to listen to God. I need to take the time to hear from God in prayer. This means I need to shut up. Yes, prayer includes talking to God and it also includes listening to God.

    Do you know what works God is calling you to? Are there “extras” that you have added? 
    Will you sit and listen today?

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

The Call to Love

**Please take one minute to sit, breathe deeply and seek quiet.**

    Humble, Dependent, Risky, Persevering. Love requires all this and then some. How in the world can we live the call to love as God loved us? It is easy for me to love when I am in a good mood or when the person receives my love without complaint and demand. It is easy for me to love when I receive recognition or get something in return. I would argue that this is not really love, at least love for God or another. This is me loving me.
    To be realistic (I know, you’ve come to expect that of me J), all of our love is mixed with a bit of self-love. I have not decided if this is a necessarily an all-bad thing, I just know it’s a real thing. Even if our love is mixed, we try to love, we attempt at humility and dependence. We take risks and we stay. We love like Jesus by humbling ourselves before him, depending on him, not calculating and persevering knowing that love wins and is greater than anything else.
    The call to love is challenging, it is mixed and it is not perfect but it is our call. Let us live a life of love that is more and more reflective of Jesus and we grow in believing His great love for us.


**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**

A Call to Peace

**Before you being reading, sit down, breathe normally and be quiet for one minute.**
   
    In humility and pleasure God comes into the world fully man. This humbling led to sacrifice which ultimately led to peace between the two parties – God and man.
    What opportunities has God taken to bring humility into your heart and life? What opportunities have you taken to recognize the need for humility? How can humility lead to peace in a relationship in your life?
    The peace that God brings gives us reconciliation with Him – a restored relationship. What peace can you bring to a relationship in your life? How can reconciliation be a reality as you seek to live in humility and peace?

**Sit quietly again for as much time as is available to you.**

Compassion

**Before you begin reading, sit down, breathe normally and be quiet for 1 minute.**

Compassion. I am reminded about how little I understand compassion when I am trying to explain to my three year old why a man is homeless and asking for money. I am reminded about how little I demonstrate compassion in these moments as well. Compassion can be so many things and can look so different but in the end it is a simple (not always easy) call of God. How is God calling you to live compassionately?

**Sit quietly again for as much time as is available to you.**

Have more than two minutes? Spend some time in prayer, asking God to open your eyes to how He is calling you to live compassionately.