Last night I took a color challenge. The goal was to place a long line of similar colors in the order that created a flow from one color to another. Like from blue to green. Or purple to brown. There were at least 40 blocks to put into this order.

The idea was that we all have some form of color blindness and as we get older, it gets a little worse. Their point was that we need to be able to see these slight variations in order to choose the right items to wear or use as décor in our homes.

I feel a little silly even admitting that I took fifteen minutes of my evening to take this challenge for a few reasons. First, I didn’t do so well. So looks like I have a mild form of color blindness. Perhaps that’s why the walls in my office aren’t the exact match to the color in the curtains.

Second, I can pick out the primary colors and the colors that I like. I think that is sufficient.

Third, there were more important things I could have done besides this color challenge. I chose to waste my time, knowing that there was no way I could possibly pass this test. Silly.

Yes, there are more important ways to spend my time. Jesus spoke these words when asked what the most important commandment was. “The most important one is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31 – NIV)

So what is important? My daily encounters. Encounters with God, family, friends, and strangers.

God

First and foremost, my daily encounter with God must top my list. If I do not spend time with Him, learning from His Word and communicating with Him, the rest of the encounters might as well be tossed into the trash can. I can guarantee that my personal relationship with God and how intimate I am with Him determines how I react to every other encounter throughout my day.

David knew how important this element was. In Psalm 73:25-26 (NIV) David cried out to God with these words. “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” What words to live by!

Family

My interaction with my family must be important as well. My family must see and know the good in me. But sometimes I can get bogged down with a project or consumed by another element and my family gets the worst of me. How I long to rid my life of this inconsistency. Praising God and cursing man with the same tongue (James 3:10).

It is only with God’s strength and wisdom that I can be the woman of noble character that Solomon wrote about in Proverbs 31. With God, I can be a wife worth far more than rubies. With God, I can speak with wisdom and faithful instruction. With God, I am called blessed by my children. With God, I have a chance to be His imitator and live a life of love among my loved ones.

Friends

Friendship is so precious. My “girlfriend” time is so valuable to me. But sometimes, if we are not careful, ugliness can join in the conversation. Gossip, idle talk, boasting, and busybodiness just might make it to the table. But we can see from Scripture what our conversations should include.

Colossians 4:6 (NIV) says, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Full of grace. That means for everyone and everything that is discussed with friends. Don’t allow Satan to ruin something beautiful in friendships. Ask God to be in the middle of those gatherings. It will make a difference.

Strangers

And then there are the strangers I encounter. How am I to engage with them? In Matthew 25:35, 40 (NIV), Jesus said, “For I was hungry ad you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in…I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” We are to treat strangers like we would treat Jesus.

In Hebrews 13:2 (NIV), we see more information about strangers. “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” You never know who you might be speaking to. Use words of kindness, gentleness, graciousness regardless of who you encounter.

These daily encounters are important in my life. Not that I have achieved these goals. But I try. I remember Paul’s words in Philippians when I miss the mark. “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13b-14 – NIV)

My day is just beginning and so far I’m off to a good start, but it is only 7:00 a.m. I have a long way to go. However, being on this journey with Jesus makes the days so much sweeter. It makes me so much sweeter. And in turn, makes my encounters so much sweeter. I pray you can say the same.

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Donna

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