{"id":2863,"date":"2014-02-11T13:48:09","date_gmt":"2014-02-11T13:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=2863"},"modified":"2014-02-11T13:48:09","modified_gmt":"2014-02-11T13:48:09","slug":"february-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=2863","title":{"rendered":"February 11"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I get tired of winter far too easily. Last week we had plenty of snow, but everything else in the scenario went smoothly. The sun was shining. The wind wasn\u2019t blowing. We had some beautiful days that were uplifting and I actually enjoyed them.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/february-11-blue_light__12-calendar-1280x800.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-2864\" style=\"border: 3px solid black; margin: 10px;\" alt=\"february-11-blue_light__12-calendar-1280x800\" src=\"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/february-11-blue_light__12-calendar-1280x800-300x231.jpg\" width=\"180\" height=\"139\" srcset=\"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/february-11-blue_light__12-calendar-1280x800-300x231.jpg 300w, https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/february-11-blue_light__12-calendar-1280x800.jpg 623w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\" \/><\/a>Then the inevitable happened. Winter really set in. The wind started to blow a bit. The sun was blocked by dreariness. It was pretty ugly. I was ready for winter to be over. And it only lasted two days!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And to make matters worse, I fell. On ice. Winter just needs to go away.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Well, good news for my neck of the country\u2026we\u2019re expecting temperatures near 60\u00b0 all week long. This snow and ice will be gone.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For me, today is looking pretty promising. Now what am I going to do with it?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Elizabeth George says this, \u201cWith the gift of a whole, entire, precious, and priceless day before you, ask: \u2018Lord how do <i>You<\/i> want me to live this day? What is it that <i>You<\/i> want me to do with this one day that You have given me? What is the work <i>You<\/i> want me to accomplish today?\u2019\u201d<a title=\"\" href=\"#_edn1\">[i]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t you want to know what could happen if you gave your day to God in this way? Wouldn\u2019t it be remarkable to see what He will bring into your life? Wouldn\u2019t it cool to look at your accomplished work at the end of the day and say, \u201cWay to go God!\u201d? I think so.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>However, I know that I don\u2019t always give my days to Jesus enough. I know that I sometimes tend to focus on what I need to focus on instead of allowing God to lead me on the path. I know I fail at this.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But the good news is that I have a brand new day every 24 hours. I can be more intentional about giving God my day tomorrow if I mess it up today. I can put tomorrow behind and look toward the bright outlook of today. And that\u2019s what I intend to do.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>C. S. Lewis once wrote, \u201cPut first things first and we get second things thrown in: Put second things first and we lose both first and second things.\u201d Isn\u2019t that the truth?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Jesus had this to say about our day. <i>\u201cBut seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.\u201d <\/i>(Matthew 6:33 \u2013 NIV)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So today, I intend to seek God\u2019s kingdom first. That will be the first thing. Then the second things (those things spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 6:25-32) will come.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>You would think that because I work at a church, the assistant to the lead pastor of that church, and a leader of two women\u2019s Bible studies that I would be focused on God\u2019s kingdom first and foremost. But I have to tell you, the evil one tries hard every day to body slam me off the path.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So today, I will keep my eyes on the goal (Philippians 3:13-14). I will cling to the One who is able to keep me from falling (Psalm 63:8 and Jude 1:24-25). I will seek God with all my heart (Jeremiah 29:12-13).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>What are your plans for the day?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Grace and peace be yours in abundance,<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Donna<\/p>\n<div><br clear=\"all\" \/><\/p>\n<hr align=\"left\" size=\"1\" width=\"33%\" \/>\n<div>\n<p><a title=\"\" href=\"#_ednref1\">[i]<\/a> <i>God\u2019s Wisdom for a Woman\u2019s Life<\/i>, Elizabeth George, Harvest\u00a0 House Publishers, 2003, page 30.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I get tired of winter far too easily. Last week we had plenty of snow, but everything else in the scenario went smoothly. The sun was shining. The wind wasn\u2019t blowing. We had some beautiful days that were uplifting and I actually enjoyed them. &nbsp; Then the inevitable happened. Winter really set in. The wind [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,246,14,21],"tags":[1857,1856,1854,1860,1859,1858,562,1861,1689,1855],"class_list":["post-2863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-following-god","category-honoring-god","category-seeking-god","category-trusting-god","tag-c-s-lewis","tag-elizabeth-george","tag-february-11","tag-jeremiah-2912-13","tag-jude-124-25","tag-matthew-625-33","tag-philippians-313-14","tag-plans-for-the-day","tag-psalm-638","tag-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2863"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2866,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863\/revisions\/2866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}