Focus on Acceptance…

Dear Lord; Happy Monday Father!  First off, I want to thank You for another lovely weekend with my family and friends.  Date night with my wonderful wife Shannon on Saturday night was a great way to end the week, and although I ended up “under the weather” on Sunday, I was Blessed in that my family made sure I had the quiet time I needed to rest and recuperate.  I certainly wasn’t as productive as I had originally planned on being, but the downtime did help us all to recharge our batteries for the week ahead.

Today Lord, I want to delve further into my Focus Word (Accept) for the year and how it’s already affected my thoughts and actions.  It’s amazing to me, but since You placed that word in my heart I find it jumping into my head quite regularly.  For example, I had a situation this weekend where I was extremely uncomfortable with the way someone was acting in a public situation.  They weren’t doing anything wrong per-se, but it made me feel awkward all the same.

“You need to Accept them for who they are” I heard in the back of my head.

Fair enough.  As I said, they weren’t doing anything wrong and they certainly weren’t hurting me in any way.  I realized I had just taken it upon myself to feel uncomfortable at the way they were behaving, and was letting it affect my disposition.

Therefore, today’s statement of focus from my experience this weekend is :

I need to Accept that God has made each of us an individual who is unique and special.

Now please understand Father, this doesn’t mean I won’t stand up against people doing something morally or ethically wrong, or not confront evil wherever I see it.  I simply need to have more flexibility when dealing with differences in how Your Children act and interact with others.  You’ve made us all wonderfully individual and unique, and I’m going to work on celebrating those differences more.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

And My Focus Word is…

Dear Lord; Good morning Father.  Today Lord, I want to follow up on a discussion we had earlier this week where we talked about finding my “One Word Focus” for this year.  You and I have been “chatting” a lot about this over the last few days, and my mind’s been flooded with so many words describing parts of myself that I know could use work.  Throughout all those deliberations and prayers however, I keep hearing one word in the midst of it all :

Accept.

Ok, message received… “Accept” it is.  I’ll admit, it’s not quite along the lines of what I had originally conceived when I started down this path but I’ll Accept Your Guidance :-).

So this morning, I started contemplating what the word Accept means in relation to my life, and the more I thought about it the bigger the scope grew.  There are so many things that I currently Accept (and possibly shouldn’t), and so many more that I need to work on.  For example, as we discussed yesterday I need to work on the fact that my nature is to try and fix everyone’s problems, when obviously that’s not a realistic perspective.

I need to Accept that I’m not in control and that I can’t fix everything.

Wow… So, I’m starting to understand why you put this word in my heart Lord.  I guess there are more things in my life that I haven’t fully Accepted than I had originally thought.  This is a truly powerful word, and I thank You for seeding me with it.

Heavenly Father, thank You so much for instilling this focus in my heart and mind.  As I contemplate and pray about this direction over the coming year, please lead me to recognize and Accept all Your Truths and proceed with them in Your Love.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Thanks on a Monday

Dear Lord; Happy Monday Father!  Well Lord, I just want to thank You for another lovely weekend.  Date night with my lovely wife on Friday was a blast, Saturday we began to reclaim our home from the Christmas decorations, and Sunday was a wonderful lazy day watching the epic 1956 film “The Ten Commandments” with my family.  The house is still in quite a bit of chaos, but all in all it was a wonderful, productive time and I thank You so much for it.

I also want to take a minute to thank You for sending Your healing power to me over the last week.  As You know I ended up at my doctor’s office last Wednesday with serious stomach distress.  I was in a fair amount of pain Lord, and while I still have some discomfort it’s worlds better than it was.  Thank You so much for Blessing me with an excellent Primary Care Physician, and for Your Comfort during this episode.  It’s woken me up to some necessary changes I need to make in my diet, stress level and sleep habits if I want to avoid potentially serious medical issues in the future.  Please help me keep proper focus and have the strength to make the right choices going forward.

And finally Lord, I’ve been hearing quite a bit this month about the idea of having One Word to focus and pray on for the new year, instead of a series of resolutions which usually don’t get followed through on.  The more I’ve thought about the idea, and seen some examples on other devotional blogs the more I like it.  Therefore Father, today I’m starting my prayers for You to help me choose the word that will guide me for the coming year.  I place my heart and mind in Your Hands Lord, and look forward to Your Counsel on my focus.

Heavenly Father, please bring Your Loving Presence to all those in need.  Help us be productive, focused and compassionate servants of Your Will, and guide us to where we can best be used for Your Grand Purpose.  Give Your Comfort and Strength to those who are suffering, and help us all be extensions of Your Love on Earth.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

The Stuff that Dreams are Made of

Dear Lord; Wow Father… What a powerful morning You’ve presented me with.  I’m still not 100% sure what to make of it, but it’s got me excited nonetheless.

Now, I’ve never been a big nighttime “dreamer”.  In fact, I’m a chronic insomniac so when I do finally crash I very seldom remember what runs through my head the next morning.  Last night however, was a completely different experience for me.  Everything was so vivid, so real… When the alarm clock went off (and just FYI, I now realize that alarm clocks are one of Satan’s creations…LOL) I was truly shocked to find out that I had been asleep.  However, although I woke a bit disoriented I had an amazing sense of peace and of hope in my heart that hadn’t been there when I went to bed.  It was a wonderful feeling, but at the same time very confusing.  A little later, I was trying to make sense of it all while showering and You whispered to my heart :

“Expect something wonderful”

I’ve never put much stock in my dreams Father, but I’ve absolutely learned to be open to Your Voice.  This was such a powerful and unexpected experience for me, that I’m still having a hard time putting it into perspective.  Either way, no matter what the “something wonderful” turns out to be, I can’t thank You enough for the joyous feeling You left me with this morning.

On a different note Lord, I just had to share another piece of happiness with You.  Last night, Aidan and I finished reading the Book of Genesis in his new Action Bible.  He was beaming from the accomplishment, and went to bed with a smile on his face.  We also found and bought the DVD of the movie “The Ten Commandments” recently, and are planning to watch it this weekend so it’s a wonderful lead-in to reading the Book of Exodus.  Jonathan’s been reading Genesis as well, and I expect he’ll have it done in the next day or so as well.  Can You tell I’m proud of them Lord?  🙂

And we’re once again coming into a weekend Father.  Shannon and I are getting out for “date night” tonight, with the balance of the weekend being spent getting the Christmas decorations put away and putting our house back to some semblance of normality.  I’ll admit, I’m going to be sorry to see all the wonderful lights and embellishments get put away for another year, but it’s time.

Heavenly Father, I thank You so much for coming to me this morning.  The more I feel Your Presence with me, the more I know peace in my heart and go through the day focused on what truly matters.  Please guide me to better be Your Servant, and to shine Your Light to those around me so that they may know Your Love as I’ve come to.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Morning Realizations

Dear Lord; Good morning Father!  Well, once again You’ve set the conversation topic for our morning chat.  Here I was all ready to talk about plans for the new year, and then You intervened and kept redirecting me to discuss the morning rush at our house.

Well Father, as You know weekday mornings at our home tend to be a little on the chaotic side.  I’m the light sleeper in the house, so when the alarm goes off it’s me that gets up to start things rolling for the day (Shannon could sleep through a small nuclear device being detonated nearby… LOL).  The first 15 minutes of the day becomes a flurry of activity between running dogs out, to waking up children and finally prompting Shannon until she stirs as well.  Some days are better than others, but no matter what my “Wake Up Call” is never a welcomed experience by the rest of the household.  The balance of the next hour is spent getting everyone clean, clothed, fed and ready to get out the door in time.  All in all Lord, it’s a mad rush by four half-awake people that quite often leads to frustrations flaring up.

As they did this morning.

It’s funny, but I wasn’t sure what You meant when You whispered to me that we needed to talk about my mornings and almost dismissed it, but when I heard You clearly a second time it started me analyzing the morning ritual in general, and how it affects me.  Then I recognized Your intention… I’ve become resentful of being the one who has to be the “bad guy” each morning and hadn’t realized it.  Wow… What a powerful and worrisome realization that was.

Well Lord, once again You’ve made me pull out a demon I wasn’t aware of into the sunlight.

It hurts my heart to think I’ve become resentful of helping my family with anything they need, even though it’s not a happy task.  It’s a necessary role, and one that I’m best suited for.  I need to leave these feelings at Your Feet Lord, and do ALL I can for my family with love and care.

Heavenly Father, I thank You for helping me see this poison in my heart for what it is.  I pray that You help me release it from my spirit, and wake each morning with a joyous heart in the knowledge that I’m performing a loving act for those I hold dear.  Amen.

~Phather Phil