Living Deliberately

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

~ Henry David Thoreau ~

There is not a day that goes by that the first prayer on my lips is for God to show me what the essential facts are in life. To point me to the silent place in my day when I can hear His still voice tell me, what matters and what is just the noise of all the people with personal agendas. I have no desire to be dead, meet my maker only to discover, I had it all wrong. This simple life we have carved out for ourselves has a lot to do with removing ourselves from all the noise of the modern world that keeps us from living deliberately. Not noise as in sounds, but in noise as in the voices of the masses telling us all how we should live, what success looks like to them etc. I don't want mans success, I want to live measured by what God considers success, and from what I can tell, there is a big difference between the two.

We live in an age where the Pharisees of Jesus time, would fit right in. I can see them doing well on Trumps, "Apprentice" or running a any media company or perhaps being the leaders of some of the TV ministries. Sad but true.

I wish I had the nerve to express just how much retrospect has taught me. In rebellion, I fought to burst through the hedges that were around me, to keep me from even getting close to falling prey to the things that no one really needs in their Christian walk. We don't have to know all the things that go on in the world, or know every philosophy out there. We just don't. Wiser people than me, figured out long ago that to stay pure in heart, living deliberately for God, means we just need to avoid the traps and temptations the world has to offer. Those movies we watch, do they keep our hearts pure ? Those magazines we bring into the house, do they make us want more ? Where did that concept of keeping up with the Joneses come from ? Is the modern world taking us away from giving God undivided attention for a good part of the day ? Is the need for things, for stuff consuming the peace in our hearts and making our patience short ? I kinda wish now, I had stayed behind those fences and hedges that kept me less focused on me and more focused on what will matter in the end. I can rebuild them, and I probably will in time, but its hard to rebuild, much harder to do than new construction, the debris has to be removed first, hauled off.

Why is it, that in this day and age, it is reported that the youth are the most stressed generation ever ? More stress than in the depression even. How is it, progress with all its wonder, is taking us to a place where nearly every third commercial is for depression medication ? Where bullying in school is an epidemic ? Where people are so full of difficult emotions that they are eating themselves into obesity, trying to quell the pain ? We are longing for peace in our souls, longing to live deliberately, yet we have lost the path to get us there.

We need something in our lives, good direction, solid truth and a willingness to stop, take inventory and change what needs to be changed.

Let my prayer be for me, my loved ones and everyone

2 Thessalonians 1: 11-12

. . .we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ