His divine power has given us everything we need for life...
--2 Peter 1:3
In a recent entry for the Blog Gifted For Leadership, Carla Waterman talks about a friend who came to visit her after relocating for a new job. Her friend was feeling overwhelmed by her new circumstances. She had gone from an environment that was rewarding and full of friends to one where she was a stranger who had yet to be "noticed" or appreciated. She was tired of having to fight for respect and a chance to play a vital role in her new world.
At that moment a quote from Dorothy Sayers occurred to Waterman: "Life is not a problem to be solved, but a medium for creation." Then she suggested to her friend, "Perhaps it is time to drop your sword and pick up your paint brush."
From there the two friends went on to discuss how easy it is to devote energy to making things how they thought they should be rather than working with them as they are. Instead of fighting for what she thought would make her happy, her friend began to wonder if she might do better to accept them.
Waterman continues: It is not the first conversation I have had in the last week on the difference between a full life and a frenetic one. And I find myself increasingly recognizing that, when there are so very few things over which we have control, we still have the choice of whether to wield a sword or pick up a brush.
This morning we will continue our discussion of our theme verse (above). And the question for us to ask is this: What do we mean when we say that God's divine power has given us everything we need for life. What kind of life? And how? How has God given us everything we need for life? Notice that it doesn't say that He will give us everything we want. Or even everything we think we need. This passage promises that his power will provide what we need.
I hope this morning that you feel like you have everything you need for life. I you don't feel that way, I hope you will leave feeling a little better equipped to serve God in your world. I hope when you go you'll feel like picking up a paintbrush and getting to work.
--2 Peter 1:3
In a recent entry for the Blog Gifted For Leadership, Carla Waterman talks about a friend who came to visit her after relocating for a new job. Her friend was feeling overwhelmed by her new circumstances. She had gone from an environment that was rewarding and full of friends to one where she was a stranger who had yet to be "noticed" or appreciated. She was tired of having to fight for respect and a chance to play a vital role in her new world.
At that moment a quote from Dorothy Sayers occurred to Waterman: "Life is not a problem to be solved, but a medium for creation." Then she suggested to her friend, "Perhaps it is time to drop your sword and pick up your paint brush."
From there the two friends went on to discuss how easy it is to devote energy to making things how they thought they should be rather than working with them as they are. Instead of fighting for what she thought would make her happy, her friend began to wonder if she might do better to accept them.
Waterman continues: It is not the first conversation I have had in the last week on the difference between a full life and a frenetic one. And I find myself increasingly recognizing that, when there are so very few things over which we have control, we still have the choice of whether to wield a sword or pick up a brush.
This morning we will continue our discussion of our theme verse (above). And the question for us to ask is this: What do we mean when we say that God's divine power has given us everything we need for life. What kind of life? And how? How has God given us everything we need for life? Notice that it doesn't say that He will give us everything we want. Or even everything we think we need. This passage promises that his power will provide what we need.
I hope this morning that you feel like you have everything you need for life. I you don't feel that way, I hope you will leave feeling a little better equipped to serve God in your world. I hope when you go you'll feel like picking up a paintbrush and getting to work.