I love the fresh start opportunities that come with the a new year.
It's like a built in mulligan on the first hole of a round of golf...no
matter how good or bad your first shot was, there's always hope for
improvement, so you tee it up and take a swing.
I always wake up motivated to get the year off to a good start. Bible reading and prayer is certainly part of the program. According to my reading plan I was to begin with Genesis 1-3. Like a golf course I've played a thousand times, I knew exactly what to expect. God creates the perfect place and then he invites a couple of people to move in. They aren't very good roommates. They are messy and selfish and most importantly have a hard time distinguishing between what's theirs and what's God's. They cross the line and wreck the place. God REALLY likes them, but unfortunately He has to kick them out. Outside they find out just how good they had it.
Looking at what went wrong for Adam and Eve, it occurred to me that I often have a hard time distinguishing from the fruit that God made for me, and the fruit that he wisely keeps from me. When I consider the garden of my heart, I think I know enough to stay away from the obvious seductions of the serpent, but I'm also foolish enough to ask God to provide me with some of the fruit that's not for me. Can you imagine Adam and Eve parked outside the fence that encircled that tree, continuously begging God for a taste?
As I think about what I really desire, and even the things that I ask God to provide, I wonder how frequently my wish list includes forbidden fruit?
This year my prayer is that God will give me the desire to celebrate and cultivate the fruit he has provided for me, resisting the temptation to focus on the fruit that grows on the other side of the fence of his protective wisdom.
I always wake up motivated to get the year off to a good start. Bible reading and prayer is certainly part of the program. According to my reading plan I was to begin with Genesis 1-3. Like a golf course I've played a thousand times, I knew exactly what to expect. God creates the perfect place and then he invites a couple of people to move in. They aren't very good roommates. They are messy and selfish and most importantly have a hard time distinguishing between what's theirs and what's God's. They cross the line and wreck the place. God REALLY likes them, but unfortunately He has to kick them out. Outside they find out just how good they had it.
Looking at what went wrong for Adam and Eve, it occurred to me that I often have a hard time distinguishing from the fruit that God made for me, and the fruit that he wisely keeps from me. When I consider the garden of my heart, I think I know enough to stay away from the obvious seductions of the serpent, but I'm also foolish enough to ask God to provide me with some of the fruit that's not for me. Can you imagine Adam and Eve parked outside the fence that encircled that tree, continuously begging God for a taste?
As I think about what I really desire, and even the things that I ask God to provide, I wonder how frequently my wish list includes forbidden fruit?
This year my prayer is that God will give me the desire to celebrate and cultivate the fruit he has provided for me, resisting the temptation to focus on the fruit that grows on the other side of the fence of his protective wisdom.
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