Back to the Basics
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… make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. – 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
As we shift into a new season that marks the end of summer and as fall activities start up, we can look at the fullness of summer and be thankful. We can take a deep breath, exhale, and start anew into a fresh cycle and structure.
Back to school. Back to rhythms. Back to routine and regular, and yet, there is also a season of newness that comes with the start up of this season. What will the fall to spring calendar bring?
First, before anything, we go back to the basics. Be with the Lord. Seek Him in all we do. Look to the example of Jesus and how He interacted with others. And live a life directed by the Holy Spirit.
We have an opportunity to take this time and ask the Lord how He wants us to love Him and others this year. Who might He want us to be friend? What challenges may come that He wants to work through and grow?
… make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12)
We can make it our ambition to lead a quiet life as we go through our days, honoring God in our academics, our words, our actions and abilities. His love fills us, and we can overflow into those around us with His love.
We get to be God’s light wherever we are, and people are going to experience His love through us, perhaps for the first time.
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)
Whatever we do as we slip into the swing of fall, let’s keep our eyes focused on God, who gave us everything in Christ Jesus. He is good, He has placed us where we are right now for good purposes, and while we live our lives with a heart to serve and love Him, He gets the glory, and we live in His overflow.
Questions for Reflection:
- What are you looking forward to at the start of this season?
- How can you invite God into this new beginning of school, work, or activity?
