This week I was listening to a great message being preached by Brian Johnson and one thing that he said really stood out to me. Now I can not remember the exact words that he said but a rough paraphrase of it is this…

“Spend time with the Lord just to spend time with Him. Not just so you get something out of it, like something to write about, something to say or something to preach but to spend time with the Lord purely just to spend time with Him”.

I am afraid to say that sometimes I have been guilty of this very thing. I write and occasionally I get to speak and teach and a lot of what I have to write about and talk about comes from my time spent with the Lord, which of course is a good thing, however when your motives of spending time with the Lord is just so you have something to write about or talk about well then that is not necessarily a good thing.

In his message Brian suggested that you read the word each day and pick just one thing that you are going to work on that day and let that one thing be your focus. And you do it to become closer to the Lord, to walk in wisdom and freedom and not just so you can write an excellent piece or give a great talk.

The thing that has been most playing on my heart lately is how to love better. So in taking Brian’s great advice I am starting with verses from 1 Corinthians chapter 13

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Each day, or it even may take me a few days depending on how fast I learn, I am going to focus on one thing from these verses and really be mindful of walking them out in my day. I started with focusing on being patient. I asked Holy Spirit to walk it through with me, to help me and guide me through this process. Being patient seems easy enough but when you are sleep deprived and your kids are awake super early (and I mean super early) it takes a lot of love and patience to deal with them especially when they are reluctant to fall back asleep.

So this is my journey at the moment, spending time with the Lord, purely just to spend time with Him. I am learning all about love and trying to walk love out well every single day.