What's New
So, if you remember from my last post, I was going to start trying to wake up an hour earlier to have time, especially when I have to work, to spend with God in the mornings. Today I want to discuss the results of my experiment.
So, for the past few weeks, I've been trying to wake up at 5am in order to have extra time in the mornings to read my Bible and to spend in prayer before I have to go to work. On days that I work, it hasn't been as difficult to wake up an hour earlier, because I know if I close my eyes and go back to sleep, I might be late for work. On my days off, it's been a little harder, because I feel like I could use the extra sleep. Therefore, waking up earlier has been hit or miss, especially since my biggest issue is actually going to bed earlier. My body isn't used to it, and sometimes I feel like I haven't had enough sleep.
On the days when I do wake up at 5am, though, wow! It's absolutely amazing. I get to see the sunrise, and I get to hit my knees in prayer before I do anything else. The house is quiet, and still, and it's so peaceful. I enjoy those moments more than I could ever explain.
I hit a snag last week, though, because I was having trouble falling asleep early enough, and still getting up at 5 am. So, when I awoke, I was incredibly tired, and cranky, and last weekend was just incredibly stressful because of it.
So, in a stroke of genius, I took the pressure off of myself. I set my alarm back to 6 am for work, and when I awoke at 5:30, I made myself get out of bed. I felt more rested, and on my day off yesterday, I actually didn't set an alarm, and I slept in until 7.
Long story short, I needed rest, and I allowed myself some time to take it. My alarm is set back at 5 am for now, though, and I will continue with my experiment, and one day my sleep schedule will regulate, and I'll be used to going to bed earlier and waking up earlier.
Testament Talk
So, since I've been talking about time and sleep in today's post, I'm going to continue on that train of thought with pressure.
Pressure comes from everywhere. People always seem to have expectations of us. There's a demand to meet, and sometimes exceed, those expectations.
Our family puts pressure on us.
Our job puts pressure on us.
Our friends put pressure on us.
Our church puts pressure on us.
Our clubs put pressure on us.
But the worst kind of pressure is the kind that we put on ourselves.
Why is that the worst? Because our expectations of ourselves are always unrealistic. Always. Because we expect ourselves to meet everyone else's expectations and then we take it further and add some of our own.
We have to earn more. Do better. Be more social. Exercise more. Read more. Catch up on that show your friend loves.
And I'm not saying these are bad things. It's not bad to be social, or exercise, or get up earlier, or read books (I would never say that).
I'm saying that sometimes, after we've met everyone else's expectations, we need to be careful about placing further expectations on ourselves. Sometimes we just need to give ourselves a break.
But what does this have to do with the Bible? I'm getting there.
I have a question for you. Just one.
What does God expect from us, and do our expectations line up with His?
Okay. That was a two-part question, but still only one question. If our expectation for ourselves don't line up with God's expectations, we need to take a step back, and reevaluate our lives. This is something I need to do too, so if this is you, you are not alone. Never alone.
So now I can hear you asking: what's the solution? I don't think there is a perfect solution. We will always have expectations from ourselves and other people. And we can't always ignore them.
But something I'm learning is that not everything I need or want to do is important. Take a minute and read that again. Not everything I need or want to do is important.
Important is defined as: "of great significance or value; likely to have a profound effect on success, survival, or well-being."
So, not everything we want or need to do is important in relation to God's eternal kingdom. Not everything we want or need to do is important to our success, survival, or well-being.
And that's a really significant distinction. We don't have to do everything. There will never be enough time. What we do need to do is make sure that we keep what's really important in focus. It's okay to have things we enjoy. It's okay to go to work. And it's okay to go to church activities. But they shouldn't take up every second of our time. Yes. Even the church activities. It's good to be plugged in to your church, but it is possible to overdo it with activities and be totally disconnected from God.
So, one of my big issues is that I want to read everything. Well, almost everything. But pretty much everything. And that puts an unnecessary pressure on me (I've talked about this before). So, I have to constantly remind myself that books are not the most important thing. That it won't matter in the long run if I've read 2 or 2,000 books.
So, I will continue working on my schedule, and making more time for what's really important. If you need encouragement to do the same, post a comment down below.
Here's a quick recipe for you. Pair this parmesan crusted chicken with butter noodles, and some veggies and you'll have a delicious meal! We actually substituted corn flake crumbs for the bread crumbs and it turned out really well.
Book Nook
I have been reading so many books lately, it's hard to know which one to pick. It doesn't help that I didn't like some of the books I've read in the past couple weeks. At the risk of boring you all, I'm going to recommend another cozy mystery. I think I'm almost finished with the mystery kick, so hopefully I'll have a different genre soon.
This week's recommendation is Do or Diner, a Comfort Food mystery, by Christine Wenger. Trixie moves to her aunt's small town in New York to escape her cheating ex-husband. She takes over her aunt's diner, and makes lots of new friends, including the local deputy. Of course, there's a murder, and she helps investigate. Surprisingly, the romance isn't a main factor in this series either, even though it's there.
The main point of the series is the food. Mysteries and food. Two of my favorite things wrapped up in one tiny book. Plus, this is a short series. I think there are 5 books in total, so it wouldn't take someone long to read all of them if they enjoyed the series.
I have the 5th one checked out from the library right now. I'm just waiting for a chance to read it. I have too many books out again. Sniffle.
Film Watch
This week, my movie recommendation is Rogue One: A Star Wars story. Yes. I am a huge nerd. No. I don't care if you judge me.
Rogue One is set just before Episode IV: A New Hope.The main character, Jyn Erso, is an unlikely hero, who is sent to retrieve the blueprints for the Death Star, which her father helped to create. There are plenty of new characters, as well as familiar ones.
If you're not a Star Wars fan, most of that didn't make sense. And that's okay. You can watch Rogue One even if you've never seen any of the other Star Wars movies, and still understand the plot. I do recommend watching all of the other movies, though.
Weekly Reflection
Overall, this week has been pretty good. Last week wasn't, but that's okay. I'm going to keep pressing on anyway.
If you have any thoughts about anything in this post, I'd love to hear them! Just leave your thoughts in the comment section below. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!
So, for the past few weeks, I've been trying to wake up at 5am in order to have extra time in the mornings to read my Bible and to spend in prayer before I have to go to work. On days that I work, it hasn't been as difficult to wake up an hour earlier, because I know if I close my eyes and go back to sleep, I might be late for work. On my days off, it's been a little harder, because I feel like I could use the extra sleep. Therefore, waking up earlier has been hit or miss, especially since my biggest issue is actually going to bed earlier. My body isn't used to it, and sometimes I feel like I haven't had enough sleep.
On the days when I do wake up at 5am, though, wow! It's absolutely amazing. I get to see the sunrise, and I get to hit my knees in prayer before I do anything else. The house is quiet, and still, and it's so peaceful. I enjoy those moments more than I could ever explain.
I hit a snag last week, though, because I was having trouble falling asleep early enough, and still getting up at 5 am. So, when I awoke, I was incredibly tired, and cranky, and last weekend was just incredibly stressful because of it.
So, in a stroke of genius, I took the pressure off of myself. I set my alarm back to 6 am for work, and when I awoke at 5:30, I made myself get out of bed. I felt more rested, and on my day off yesterday, I actually didn't set an alarm, and I slept in until 7.
Long story short, I needed rest, and I allowed myself some time to take it. My alarm is set back at 5 am for now, though, and I will continue with my experiment, and one day my sleep schedule will regulate, and I'll be used to going to bed earlier and waking up earlier.
Testament Talk
So, since I've been talking about time and sleep in today's post, I'm going to continue on that train of thought with pressure.
Pressure comes from everywhere. People always seem to have expectations of us. There's a demand to meet, and sometimes exceed, those expectations.
Our family puts pressure on us.
Our job puts pressure on us.
Our friends put pressure on us.
Our church puts pressure on us.
Our clubs put pressure on us.
But the worst kind of pressure is the kind that we put on ourselves.
Why is that the worst? Because our expectations of ourselves are always unrealistic. Always. Because we expect ourselves to meet everyone else's expectations and then we take it further and add some of our own.
We have to earn more. Do better. Be more social. Exercise more. Read more. Catch up on that show your friend loves.
And I'm not saying these are bad things. It's not bad to be social, or exercise, or get up earlier, or read books (I would never say that).
I'm saying that sometimes, after we've met everyone else's expectations, we need to be careful about placing further expectations on ourselves. Sometimes we just need to give ourselves a break.
But what does this have to do with the Bible? I'm getting there.
I have a question for you. Just one.
What does God expect from us, and do our expectations line up with His?
Okay. That was a two-part question, but still only one question. If our expectation for ourselves don't line up with God's expectations, we need to take a step back, and reevaluate our lives. This is something I need to do too, so if this is you, you are not alone. Never alone.
So now I can hear you asking: what's the solution? I don't think there is a perfect solution. We will always have expectations from ourselves and other people. And we can't always ignore them.
But something I'm learning is that not everything I need or want to do is important. Take a minute and read that again. Not everything I need or want to do is important.
Important is defined as: "of great significance or value; likely to have a profound effect on success, survival, or well-being."
So, not everything we want or need to do is important in relation to God's eternal kingdom. Not everything we want or need to do is important to our success, survival, or well-being.
And that's a really significant distinction. We don't have to do everything. There will never be enough time. What we do need to do is make sure that we keep what's really important in focus. It's okay to have things we enjoy. It's okay to go to work. And it's okay to go to church activities. But they shouldn't take up every second of our time. Yes. Even the church activities. It's good to be plugged in to your church, but it is possible to overdo it with activities and be totally disconnected from God.
So, one of my big issues is that I want to read everything. Well, almost everything. But pretty much everything. And that puts an unnecessary pressure on me (I've talked about this before). So, I have to constantly remind myself that books are not the most important thing. That it won't matter in the long run if I've read 2 or 2,000 books.
So, I will continue working on my schedule, and making more time for what's really important. If you need encouragement to do the same, post a comment down below.
Mark 12:30-31: "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these."
Micah 6:8: He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Psalm 119: 1-5: Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!
What's Cookin'
Here's a quick recipe for you. Pair this parmesan crusted chicken with butter noodles, and some veggies and you'll have a delicious meal! We actually substituted corn flake crumbs for the bread crumbs and it turned out really well.
Book Nook
I have been reading so many books lately, it's hard to know which one to pick. It doesn't help that I didn't like some of the books I've read in the past couple weeks. At the risk of boring you all, I'm going to recommend another cozy mystery. I think I'm almost finished with the mystery kick, so hopefully I'll have a different genre soon.
This week's recommendation is Do or Diner, a Comfort Food mystery, by Christine Wenger. Trixie moves to her aunt's small town in New York to escape her cheating ex-husband. She takes over her aunt's diner, and makes lots of new friends, including the local deputy. Of course, there's a murder, and she helps investigate. Surprisingly, the romance isn't a main factor in this series either, even though it's there.
The main point of the series is the food. Mysteries and food. Two of my favorite things wrapped up in one tiny book. Plus, this is a short series. I think there are 5 books in total, so it wouldn't take someone long to read all of them if they enjoyed the series.
I have the 5th one checked out from the library right now. I'm just waiting for a chance to read it. I have too many books out again. Sniffle.
Film Watch
This week, my movie recommendation is Rogue One: A Star Wars story. Yes. I am a huge nerd. No. I don't care if you judge me.
Rogue One is set just before Episode IV: A New Hope.The main character, Jyn Erso, is an unlikely hero, who is sent to retrieve the blueprints for the Death Star, which her father helped to create. There are plenty of new characters, as well as familiar ones.
If you're not a Star Wars fan, most of that didn't make sense. And that's okay. You can watch Rogue One even if you've never seen any of the other Star Wars movies, and still understand the plot. I do recommend watching all of the other movies, though.
Weekly Reflection
Overall, this week has been pretty good. Last week wasn't, but that's okay. I'm going to keep pressing on anyway.
If you have any thoughts about anything in this post, I'd love to hear them! Just leave your thoughts in the comment section below. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!
