Monday, June 07, 2010

For everything there is a season.

Time really has been flying for me. Since I last blogged, my parents, Steve and I have been to Virginia for my graduation. It was a great weekend and I wouldn’t have missed it if I had been on my deathbed. ;-)

Technically, I finished December 2009, but since graduation only comes once a year, I am a proud 2010 graduate of Liberty University. I’m even prouder that Glenn Beck gave the commencement speech. His analogy of Moses being supplied with a stick to do God’s work made me realize God gives each of us the necessary “stick” to complete the specific work He has for our lives. I’ve completed about half the work for my Master’s now. I had flatly told my family I would not be traveling to Liberty for graduation when I finish the master’s, but…..Here are a few of the multitude of pictures from graduation day.

Graduation marks a special time. The business cards are ordered. The group and individual coaching classes are planned. The agenda folders are being put together. It’s a time for me to hang my life/encouragement coaching shingle! “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Ecc 3:1). While the big events in our lives are important and bring us joy, every day we should look for the small daily blessing that will bring a smile to our face and laughter to our lips. Truly when we are having difficult times, we should remember to celebrate life daily! Our God is a joyful God!

Here’s another of my Worship Study devotionals.

Daily Celebration of Life

Every morning, I wake to the same sounds. We have chickens and we have parrots. With these guys around we do not need an alarm clock. We don’t need a clock to let us know the day is slipping into nighttime either. The chickens and the birds let us know right at sunrise the day is starting and again, about an hour before dark the chorus is repeated. We call this the Haygood celebration of life. The roosters crowing, the hens clucking and calling their chicks, the parrots calling to each other, all to let the world know they are still there.

As Christians, we should wake every morning to begin our daily celebration of our lifestyle of worship for God. We have special celebrations to honor our Lord at Christmas and Easter. We should have a daily celebration to ring in each day as we rise up our hands in song and prayer in thanksgiving for all He has done for us. My husband and I have begun a new journey at the beginning of our day that I truly hope continues for the rest of our lives. We have a little bit of morning coffee sitting in the middle of our bed. We are having a thanksgiving prayer time with the Lord over morning coffee. No requests are allowed, just thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. It has truly been amazing what a positive response we have both had in our mental and emotional outlook. Even our physical energy seems to be better. We are not focusing on the negative things in our lives first thing in the morning, only the Lord and the thanks for all He has already done.

Let us awaken in the morning in His love, and offer ourselves to His love the whole day. This means follow the will of God and live under His eyes, with Him, in Him, and for Him alone.

And when the evening comes, after a dialogue of love which never stopped in our hearts, we will fall asleep in His love.

Elisabeth of the Trinity

God tells us that a cheerful heart is good medicine and that a broken spirit will sap a person’s strength. The Haygood morning thanksgiving celebration is our good medicine. We are putting worship into our lifestyle with a choice and act of will. God in turn, will draw us closer into Him for worship throughout our day. Ultimately, as we are drawn closer in, God will show us His glory. The morning thanksgiving session is putting quality in our worship walk and getting us ready for the battles of the day at the same time.

In Ephesians, we are told to put on the armor of God each day. We are to take up the whole armor of God to be able to stand against the wiles of Satan (Eph 6:11). There are benefits to starting the day with a thanksgiving celebration. One is to remind us what God has already done for us previously in the daily battle of living. The other is to sing and praise God so that we might be closer to Him in our lifestyle and see His Glory throughout the day.