Reminders for Your Spiritual Journey

A dictionary definition of commitment is, “the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity or relationship".  It is a promise to dedicate ourselves to fulfilling an obligation in the future or for life (from this day forward).  It requires self-discipline, resilience and persistence.  It is a promise, to do our very best to follow through on our self-defined obligations.  It is a willingness to overcome difficulties to fulfill our responsibilities, not only to others, but also to ourselves.

When we commit ourselves to something or someone, we must be willing to adapt to any situation, because the goal is more important than anything that stands in its way.  There must be a tolerance of certain conditions that need to exist to pursue the goal.  We must be dependable, focused and passionate.  We must be willing to make sacrifices for the cause or relationship, and we must have determination to see it through, because it has become a part of our purpose in life.

Strong commitments are the most important element in any relationship, particularly in good marriages.  Without them, the first hint of a difficulty or disagreement might lead to eventual disillusion of the marriage.  People who make a commitment to make a marriage work and thrive, must be willing to make compromises and to working things out.  This does not mean that marriage partners can always overcome serious disagreements, but those who are determined to try everything possible, to resolve issues peacefully are much more likely to remain loving partners for the long haul.

Committing ourselves to a cause, a business, or another person are all things we do in our daily lives.  Committing ourselves to God, and a Christian lifestyle, are another thing all together. When we dedicate our life to God, we need all of the characteristics outlined above, but we also need to turn over our entire life plans to His control.  While God always gives us a choice to reject his plans, when we seriously commit ourselves to Him, we are willing to follow His leading and are ready to do His bidding.

Proverbs 16:3 recommends that we dedicate our work to the Lord, "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans." This verse reminds us of the importance of committing our work and our lives to God.  Committing oneself or one's spirit to God means entrusting oneself entirely to Him.  Psalm 37:5 says, “Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act”. Again, the basic idea is to entrust yourself to His care.  To entrust means to put something into somebody else's hands.  Fortunately for us, God’s hands are trustworthy. 

A challenge, is often something new and difficult which requires great effort and determination, or a situation that takes a great deal of thought and effort to resolve or overcome.  There are many other kinds of challenges such as sporting events or other kinds of contests that we enter into to show strength, endurance and problem-solving or strategic skills. 

For example, I set a challenge for myself in writing these essays––to keep them short.  To help me stay focused, I set a word limit to challenge myself to try to leave out excess words and phrases as I go along.  When that did not work very well, I set an absolute limit of 450 words, Exactly!  I made it a game to see if I could write what I started out to say in exactly that many words.  So far, according to the word count on my computer, I have done that.  This is not to give myself credit, but to spare my readers from excess verbiage.  In one of my earlier essays, on “Maturity”, I remember using a quote from Yung Pueblo, saying that “Maturity is realizing that half of what we want to say, does not need to be said.”  I try to keep that in mind.  And then I edit!

We all have challenges.  Some we enter into willingly, and some are forced upon us: social, financial, work related, dating, marriage and family problems, health issues, neighbors, all the difficult issues and people we have to deal with, just to list a few.

Challenges can motivate us to do our best and accomplish great things, or they can overwhelm us and cause us to buckle under the pressure.  Sometimes, through no fault of our own, things do not go as expected.  Accidents, illnesses and other problems can cause things to go terribly wrong.  In other cases, though we might have meant well, we ourselves make mistakes that causes problems for ourselves or others.  This can put us in a tailspin that is hard to recover from. The ultimate challenge is to rise to whatever the challenge demands and use every resource we can muster to overcome the problems involved.  The problem with most challenges is where to turn for help.  Some things are fairly straightforward, but others take expert help.  Asking for help may be the best first step in finding answers.  Then, persistence may be required to sustain the effort it takes find the right solutions.

“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”  James 1:12. May God’s love strengthen you!

Beauty can be described as a feature of objects, music, works of art or scenes in nature that make them pleasurable to look at, to hear or otherwise perceive.  Scenes include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art.  Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, a branch of philosophy.  The perception of beauty most often involves the senses.  Blind people can get the sense of something through touch, the deaf though vibrations and so forth.  A mathematician or scientist might see a curtain formula or equation as beautiful.  A chef might attempt to make his or her meal look beautiful.  A hungry person might think the meal tastes beautiful.  Cosmetologists, fashion designers and make-up artists try to make people look beautiful and scent manufacturers try to make people and products smell beautiful.  The beauty industry is a lucrative business.  Endeavoring for outward beauty is very popular.

Striving for inner beauty seems less important to most people, yet it is equally, if not more important.  Inner beauty is something that can be found inside a person.  It's discovered in the qualities people love and respect about us, which can't always be judged in a split second. Getting to know someone’s inner beauty, often takes time to fully appreciate.  In order to develop our inner beauty, we need to first take control of our own thoughts.  Thinking pure thoughts and cultivating a pleasant and loving attitude can enhance our personality.  Only then, can an individual be truly beautiful.   A positive and healthy outlook on life is attractive to others and makes them want to be around us.  Projecting attitudes of generosity, graciousness and gratitude make us more pleasant for others, and even for ourselves, to be around.  Grumbling, grandiosity and grossness are ugly behaviors, and they reveal unpleasant attitudes.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.  "For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7. “Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is of great worth in God's sight” 1 Peter 3:3.  The Bible tells us that our beauty is not measured by the clothes we wear or how we look.  Charm and grace are deceptive, and [superficial] beauty is vain.  But a woman who fears the LORD [reverently worshiping, obeying, serving, and trusting Him with awe-filled respect], she shall be praised.  "And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." Ephesians. 4:24