finish what you started!

-i don't know about you but i have a hard time finishing stuff that i start. now obviously when i start a sermon for sunday i have to finish it because i am the preacher! what i am specifically referring to is personal devotions. now if you are a christian you know that word and what it means. to those who might not have any contact with the christian faith it is just something that you read/listen to... usually pertaining to some scripture from the bible or somebody writing/talking about some scripture from the bible and how it applies to you in everyday life.

well, i have started probably like a hundred devotionals of some sort in my journey with christ... and usually i get bored with them in a week or two. so, that means i have tried a lot of devotionals but have not finished any of them.

the reason i am writing this piece is to proclaim that recently i finished two (that's right count em', two!) devotionals all the way through from start to finish! wooohooo!

the first one i finished (which i went back and did it all the way through once more!) was the "practice of the presence of god" by a monk called brother lawrence.

here is a link where you can download the "practice of the presence of god" in pdf format (don't worry, it's free!)

i highly recommend this book, even if you are not roman catholic, i still recommend it... there is much to learn from this humble monk who spent most his life cooking and washing dishes for the brothers in his order. i learned a lot from this monk and you might also. it is a collection of letters, so they are all short and easy to read... hence that is why it makes a great devotional. short and sweet.

-alright, the other thing i have been reading is the collection of writings in the bible known as "proverbs"... even if you are not a christian you probably at least knew that there was a part of the bible called "proverbs". i have been reading them in a translation (depending on your opinion you might call this a paraphrase) called "the message" by eugene h. peterson. most people read proverbs because there are 31 of them and it makes for a convenient "one-a-day" reading. after reading all of these i found a lot that i liked and inspired me, but the one that inspired me the most was this one, it is from proverbs 30:

"...And then he [the believer] prayed, "God, I'm asking for two things
before I die; don't refuse me—
Banish lies from my lips
and liars from my presence.
Give me enough food to live on,
neither too much nor too little.
If I'm too full, I might get independent,
saying, 'God? Who needs him?'
If I'm poor, I might steal
and dishonor the name of my God."

The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

i am not exactly sure why i like it so much, but i do know that the prayers found in this text is something that would be a good thing to pray no matter what faith tradition you come from and the principles from brother lawrence wouldn't hurt anyone either.