Be mindful to be a blessing

‘Lord I am not fully where I need to be with You, but I am so thankful that I am not where I used to be. Lord I wish I had known You so much earlier, but I am thankful that I know You at all. Lord I wish I had known You better, but I’m so grateful that I know You this well. Thank You Lord!’

These are words that I penned in on a blank page of my Bible several years ago and which I have meticulously copied into every Bible I have owned over the years. These words are deep and true to my heart year in and year out. Why have I used these words as my intro on this blog? No reason other than that it was impressed on me to share them with you. I have learnt that when certain things weigh heavily on your spirit, God is speaking and you need to be attentive and to obey quickly. Perhaps there is that one person out there who is struggling in their walk with God and needs to know they are not alone. If this is you, then be rest assured that God is speaking to you. He is asking that you look away from how far you yet have to go from a spiritual growth perspective, and focus on how far you have come. Don’t lose sight of God. Don’t lose your passion to grow in Him. Never mind that you seem to take two tiny steps forward and then a full step back. Never mind that others around you seem so ‘deep’; so ‘super-spiritual’; never mind those around you that hear from God, pray for hours on end, etc. Walk your own walk! Your baby steps matter to God. The Lord will help you. He will guide you! You will make it IJMN, Amen.

I have been studying the book of Galatians recently. As I turned to chapter 6, a couple of things came to me pretty strongly. First came the admonition from verses 1-6 that we should be mindful not to hold ourselves as being superior to anyone else. I thought how despite the intentionality of living by this principle, we are all prone to failing in this regard. Sigh! In the littlest of ways that we may have been conditioned to react or reason, this is one injunction that we need the Holy Spirit to help us with.

The next few verses enjoin us not to be deceived because we will reap whatever we sow – either of the flesh or of the Spirit.  As I read this, a question arose within me: ‘What am I sowing in the lives of those around me?’ Hmmm! I found myself re-examining some of my relationships and asking myself whether I have been giving of myself into these relationships from a flesh perspective (with a defined, even if unstated, end benefit that is more to myself) or if I am truly sowing spiritual things into the lives that I have been opportune to be a part of. I remembered my Coach and Mentor Anna McCoy speaking recently on the need to constantly examine and ask ourselves if our motives for doing  .....well just about anything really, are pure. This is a question to ask ourselves daily regarding our relationships within our families - with our spouses, children, siblings, friends; in church; in our work environment, etc.

The question regarding the purity of my motives in my daily interactions has set me in an ever-evaluating frame and I tell you what.... sometimes I don’t like the responses I have to give myself. Truth hurts! And this is true whether its truth you hear from someone else, or if its truth you need to tell yourself. As I progress in my walk with God, as I yield myself more to the voice and leadings of the Holy Spirit, I have gotten to a place where despite the hurt, I truly appreciate every spiritual chastisement. This tells me that I am growing and in so far as I am conscious of and being intentional about overcoming my daily flesh battles, then the Lord is clearly still mindful of me. I like that! The knowing that shortcomings and all, HE has got my back and we are in this thing called life together. Thank you Lord!

In the middle of Galatians 6 verse 10, these words literally jump out: ‘Be mindful to be a blessing’.  Be mindful....... again a call for intentionality; for a deliberate consciousness to live the call of God to love all His children, and to do good to all people. I found myself thinking about my life and asking myself how intentional I had and have been about blessing those around me. Hmmm! It suddenly strikes me that this era of ‘Questions-to-Self’ that I have been living in since Coach Anna introduced me to the principle of living life as a Zero may be responsible for the multitude of gray hairs that have covered my head, rofl. Intentional living does call for constant thinking through of your words, thoughts and actions to bring them under subjection to the will of God for your life under the leading of the Holy Spirit. It’s not an easy place to be, Zero. But, I sure love the journey and I love where I trust that it is taking me.

As I thought through whether I have really been a blessing in the lives of those who have been or who are in my space, I also asked myself whether I have been a blessing to the fullness of the potential which God has put in me to bless with – whether by way of material things, my time, my counsel, my care, my words, my actions, my prayers.  The Scripture in Psalm 62 v 12 comes to mind – that God renders to every man according to his work. Clearly then, if God has asked that I should be mindful to be a blessing,  it appears to me that His reason for doing this is so that He can render blessings to me in return. I tell you sis, it is a great position to be where the Lord Himself chooses to be mindful to bless you because you choose to be obedient. I want to always be in that place. Don’t you?

Methinks you and I need to re-examine our relationships with those who are in our lives. We need to adopt and hold on to an intentional frame of mind and begin to bless them in every way we can, even if all we do is to hold them in the esteem that the Lord clearly expects us to - and regardless of how in the flesh, they many not appear to deserve our regard. We are designed to be channels of God’s overflow and abundant love. But clearly, unless we pour out of ourselves unto others freely and without murmuring or complaining, the Lord can only pour so much of Himself into us and into our lives. Let’s not, you and I, inadvertently limit the flow of God in our lives, okay. Today, make a mindful, deliberate, conscious and intentional decision to be a blessing to the fullest, sis. It’s really all about you at the end of the day. The Lord will help you, and He will help me.

Be blessed sis......for you surely are!