An Audience of ONE

"Let us strive to make each moment beautiful."

Saint Francis DeSales

      I am beginning a Bible Study for the High School Girls' Sunday School Class at our local church.  The theme is:  "Living A Life."  

 As I dig deeply into my soul with Bible in hand, I too often feel like a hypocrite.   This morning, while studying the lesson on being more concerned with what GOD thinks about oneself than what others think, I was pierced to the heart.  In reflecting inwardly, I see that I clearly care too much what other people think of me... my cooking, my housekeeping skills, my comments in Sunday School, and the list goes on.  I have measured myself against society's standards, and they seem impossible.   Consequently, I feel miserable about myself, and that shows in my tone of voice, my choices, and many other ways. 

     As I meditated on the meaning of all of this, I thought of my life in the past year...  no area was left unscrutinized:  Health, Beauty, Career, Physical Fitness, Possessions, Relationships...  all areas were found lacking when held up to the world's standards.  On the treadmill of perfectionism, I was left winded, and Joyless at the end of 2014.  How sad, because I KNOW there is MORE to life than this.

Thomas Kincade, Artist

     In 2015, I am going to live my life for an Audience of ONE.  In doing so for these first 15 days of January, something remarkable has happened in my life.  Suddenly, the things I desperately sought after do not matter at all anymore, and unexpected things that truly matter to me bring DELIGHT to my soul!   Joy has been dropped into my lap at just the right time!  My new "Agenda" has left me little time for worrying.  

Photo by Maranda Hawthorne
Friend and Fellow Nurse

  

     How about you?   May I challenge you to take a moment sometime today to stop and thank GOD for His presence in your life?  This simple act of remembering who my Audience is has led me to the most delightful adventures in the past two weeks.   I pray that I will keep this focus on the things that Matter Most for the whole year.  I want to be a "GOD-Pleaser" and not a "people-pleaser." 

"Our aim is to please HIM always in everything we do, whether we are here in this body, or away from this body and with HIM in Heaven." ---- II Corinthians 5:0 (TLB)