All couples who have attended a Marriage Encounter weekend are welcome to join our monthly gathering this Friday July 13 at 7:00 PM in Unity Hall. Childcare will be provided. For more information on the monthly meetings contact Eileen Dickey at jamison90@msn.com. If you have not attended a Marriage Encounter then give your marriage the attention it deserves on August 3-5 at St. Lawrence Martyr Church's. To sign up go to moments4marriage.org.
Reflections for Couples
God’s simple command: Slow down!
In work, in ministry, in family life, as in our relationships with our sweethearts, God often says, “Slow down!” Speed is not healthy in our relationship with God. Nor in our relationships with our sweethearts!
This is especially true in today’s world, where everything goes so fast and speed is often glorified. We buy new phones before the old ones wear out, because the new phone will be faster in accessing the internet, opening apps, etc. We scold our computers when it takes more than a couple of seconds to display a webpage. I’m sure you can think of several ways that you expect speed.
The trouble is, while more gets done, less of the really important things gets accomplished. What have you been too busy to do with your sweetheart? And with your family? And in your relationship with God, which is the most important relationship of all?
An example of how to slow downI’ve been writing a book about healing our faulty relationships with God our Father, tentatively entitled Tears for Abba: 30 Days to the Father’s Heart. The Holy Spirit has been inspiring it with so many ideas and so much energy that the book is practically writing itself. But for one problem: It cannot write itself. I must be an obedient partner of the Holy Spirit by carving time for it in my overly full to-do list. Since this is not easy, I’ve used force: In May I went away to a monastery for a week to get the book started. Then I spent two more weeks on vacation at home to keep writing (and one non-writing week on vacation with my sweetheart, Ralph).
And then I returned to my normal schedule. I’m still working on the book, but the Holy Spirit is inspiring more ideas than I have time to add to the book. Why does the Lord do that? Why add more to my to-do list? Should I be working faster?
The answer, of course, is that there are some items on my to-do list that don’t belong there. Not at this time. God is giving me a simple command: Slow down! (Obeying is not so simple, right? There are a million things vying for our time that seem perfectly right to do.)
So, I’m slowing down to listen to the Lord’s guidance on what I should not be doing. Clues are found in where the inspiration and energy from the Holy Spirit are.
One activity the Lord has pulled inspiration away from and reduced the energy for is the writing of new Reflections for Couples. I’ve wrestled with him over this for several months. I don’t want to give it up. I believe it’s very important. I look at the list of 803 subscribers (a number which has been growing) and ask, “How can I ignore their desire to receive more Reflections for Couples?”
And the Lord answers, “There are many other good resources for couples. Your reflections on marriage are not their only good option.” Ouch, I like to think that what I’m doing is too good to stop doing. LOL. He has humbled me again.
While I’ve been devoting time and energy to the writing of the book about the Father’s heart, I’ve been seeking guest bloggers for “Reflections for Couples”. You’ll soon see the results of this effort. If you would like to become a guest blogger, send me a sample of what you’d like to share with other couples. However, in order for Good News Ministries to continue providing Reflections for Couples via guest bloggers, I also need an editor to volunteer as a team member — or else my time will once again become too tied up in something that the Lord has been telling me to let go of.
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
© 2018 by Terry Modica of Good News Ministries
Subscribe to receive more at reflections-for-couples.org
God’s simple command: Slow down!
In work, in ministry, in family life, as in our relationships with our sweethearts, God often says, “Slow down!” Speed is not healthy in our relationship with God. Nor in our relationships with our sweethearts!
This is especially true in today’s world, where everything goes so fast and speed is often glorified. We buy new phones before the old ones wear out, because the new phone will be faster in accessing the internet, opening apps, etc. We scold our computers when it takes more than a couple of seconds to display a webpage. I’m sure you can think of several ways that you expect speed.
The trouble is, while more gets done, less of the really important things gets accomplished. What have you been too busy to do with your sweetheart? And with your family? And in your relationship with God, which is the most important relationship of all?
An example of how to slow downI’ve been writing a book about healing our faulty relationships with God our Father, tentatively entitled Tears for Abba: 30 Days to the Father’s Heart. The Holy Spirit has been inspiring it with so many ideas and so much energy that the book is practically writing itself. But for one problem: It cannot write itself. I must be an obedient partner of the Holy Spirit by carving time for it in my overly full to-do list. Since this is not easy, I’ve used force: In May I went away to a monastery for a week to get the book started. Then I spent two more weeks on vacation at home to keep writing (and one non-writing week on vacation with my sweetheart, Ralph).
And then I returned to my normal schedule. I’m still working on the book, but the Holy Spirit is inspiring more ideas than I have time to add to the book. Why does the Lord do that? Why add more to my to-do list? Should I be working faster?
The answer, of course, is that there are some items on my to-do list that don’t belong there. Not at this time. God is giving me a simple command: Slow down! (Obeying is not so simple, right? There are a million things vying for our time that seem perfectly right to do.)
So, I’m slowing down to listen to the Lord’s guidance on what I should not be doing. Clues are found in where the inspiration and energy from the Holy Spirit are.
One activity the Lord has pulled inspiration away from and reduced the energy for is the writing of new Reflections for Couples. I’ve wrestled with him over this for several months. I don’t want to give it up. I believe it’s very important. I look at the list of 803 subscribers (a number which has been growing) and ask, “How can I ignore their desire to receive more Reflections for Couples?”
And the Lord answers, “There are many other good resources for couples. Your reflections on marriage are not their only good option.” Ouch, I like to think that what I’m doing is too good to stop doing. LOL. He has humbled me again.
While I’ve been devoting time and energy to the writing of the book about the Father’s heart, I’ve been seeking guest bloggers for “Reflections for Couples”. You’ll soon see the results of this effort. If you would like to become a guest blogger, send me a sample of what you’d like to share with other couples. However, in order for Good News Ministries to continue providing Reflections for Couples via guest bloggers, I also need an editor to volunteer as a team member — or else my time will once again become too tied up in something that the Lord has been telling me to let go of.
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
© 2018 by Terry Modica of Good News Ministries
Subscribe to receive more at reflections-for-couples.org
