I am usually up for a challenge. I like pushing myself beyond my perceived limits. It drives me to do more. It also reminds me that I have more capabilities than I give myself credit. To be honest, I haven’t felt much like challenges lately. Life has been busy – real busy. I am super grateful for this, but it has changed things for me a bit. I don’t have that same desire to find challenges. My greatest challenge is getting as much done as possible in a day. So the opportunity to do anything different isn’t normally appealing.
There is something about spending the day with good friends, though. It is life-giving to enjoy the outdoors with people you don’t often get to see. In order to do this, I had to take on a challenge. I had every reason not to do it. On the flip side, there was one driving reason – people. So three of us packed into a car and headed west for the day. It was a day of fellowship, good food, and way too much time running and walking (of which I was sorely unprepared to do). It was to be a race – but for some of us, it was a really great time to spend in fellowship with really great people. For this, I could not be more grateful.
Life continues to move forward, sometimes at rapid speeds. If we don’t take the opportunities that are before us, we will miss valuable moments that give us life. An abundant life does not mean more stuff. An abundant life means more time spent enjoying God’s creation with people who mean way more than stuff ever will. It means taking a day to enjoy friendships that began years ago and are meant to last a lifetime. An abundant life is a life spent loving the things money can’t buy. I’m grateful for a glimpse of abundance.
What can you do to live the abundant life? What does it look like to spend more time doing the things which are life-giving? How might you take some time out of the hectic insanity of life to enjoy all that God has already provided? May you be filled with life, real life today. And may God’s abundance overwhelm you and cause you to exclaim “THANK YOU!”
Focus Scripture:
John 10:10
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery. Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery
SEEING THE EXTRAORDINARY 