Encouraging women to grow in closer friendship with Jesus & themselves.
Welcome to my Daybook Online Journal. This is a weekly post where I keep an online journal of my day to day. They say the days are long but the years are short and my Daybook Online Journal helps me remember the little things that may seem insignificant in the day to day but end up being the things of importance in the long run.
I woke up this morning, October 25th, with “31 Days Draft” sitting in my editorial calendar. I committed to writing for 31 Days as I read through the book of Sirach. But before I committed to the 31 Days Writing Challenge, I committed to being a wife and mother…and sometimes, those days seem to be lived in “Draft.”
My 31 Days posts keep getting later and later…If it was thought of before midnight but not posted until after does it still count as Day 23? Of course it does! For Day 23 of my 31 Days Writing Challenge, I’m not looking back. I love it when an inspiring Bible quote comes along at the right time don’t you? This one has come in handy twice in the last 23 days.
Hebrews 4:12 states, “…the Word of God is living and active…” in some translations, it reads, “…living and effectual…” So in the beginning of Sirach, in the introduction, when the author counsels to read with good will and attention, he knows that reading the words found in Sirach can be life changing. A biblical commentator writes, “The Holy Scriptures are the word of God. When God sets it home by his Spirit, it convinces powerfully, converts powerfully, and comforts powerfully.”
In my daily affirmation, I want to unite my heart and mind. I want my understanding to be so multifaceted that I use every available means from God to understand His ways first. Then I want my understanding to extend to the grumpy toddler (or teen), the stressed husband, or the frustrated fifth grader. I need my mind and heart to truly understand these beautiful souls because they are uniquely multifaceted individuals. Seeing them at face value will lead to poor communication, misunderstanding and more frustration. Remember when we considered A Man of Understanding?
I took on a 31 Days Writing Challenge to get back into blogging, again. I’ve been blogging quietly and communal, off and on for the past 10 years. I get anxious or overwhelmed with putting myself out there and then quickly close up shop. But I always come back…always. Blogging serves a creative good for me, confirmed over and over again by my husband and my spiritual father. So this morning, I said a prayer for strength. I know what I am supposed to be doing. I know why and I’m learning how. Now I need the strength. Sunday morning, I didn’t sit down with the intention to pray for strength. I sat down and read from Divine Intimacy and the section I read was all about the life of the apostolate. An in my reading, I felt compelled to write and the result was this prayer…
