A New Heart

Emily never likes to Smile!!!  

Church was uplifting today.  Woke up with a desire for church and no desire to run.

Again, I missed my 10 mile run.  I'm still trying to get back on track.  I learned last week that schedules are unnecessary for homeschooling and that I don't have to do everything at the exact time every single day.  It was fun doing things when we felt like it. Now, we still did all our 7 subjects, but we did them sporadically throughout the day.  #1, I was sick and #2, the kids loved it!
 Kinda gets boring after a while doing Math at exactly 10:30 am everyday.
 So, as I struggled to get moving last week after being in bed for 6 plus days, I learned that I need to take life less seriously. I need to just sit back and relax.

 Have a little more faith.  

We worry. We stress. We accomplish too much with so little time.  We try on our own.  We set out to conquer. 

 Kinda reminds me of the Roman Empire.  But then again, we just studied about the Great Wall of China and it's first ruler who wanted it all, even in death.  Also reminds me of Prince Siddhartha who formed the basis of Buddhism.   
 So, it just confirms that we as human beings want more.  

• We want to be Successful.  
• We want to be Loved. 
• We want to be Beautiful. 
• We want More
• We want More
• We want More. (Give me, give me, give me some more.(Black Flag))  

You see, in each culture, each person in history wanted to have a Purpose in Life.  Some went to great extremes as the kids and I learned with China.  They great ruler (Shi Huangdi), built the Great Wall of China to keep the monguls out.  All the monguls wanted was to have trade relations to stay alive, (the people were dying) but he (Shi Huangdi) wanted no association with the Monguls. He was too proud. Too stubborn.  Even in death he was buried with all the things he loved.  Things he possessed.  Even a heart of stone.

Prince Siddhartha on the other hand was given all the pleasures of this world.  He was forbidden to go outside by his parents who tried to keep him away from the seeing the sufferings of their world.   He had over 1,000 servants at his feet day and night.  One day he became curious of the outside world and begged his father to go outside.  During his encounter with the world he saw the sufferings of his people.  He felt sorrow and pain.  He went out into the wilderness to find peace and found that if we remove the need for desire, we ultimately will stop wanting.  He reached enlightenment and founded Buddhism.

In our search to be the Greatest, we miss out on our one true calling in Life.

You know the one where we excel in a particular field or career or opportunity.  We work more. We stress more. In the end we make life more complicated.  When Jesus spoke to the Teachers and the Pharisees, he explained that even with all the education they had, they missed the single most important thing in life.  They missed out on having Love in their hearts.  They had no compassion. No Love for God, but love for the Law.
My friend,  Love covers over a multitude of sins.  It gives us compassion.  It helps us to forgive. It gives us, most importantly, the opportunity to begin a true relationship with Jesus.

 No degree, no talent, not even having a bank account full of money will guarantee us happiness.   Man made religion teaches us to be good, give once in a while to others less fortunate than us and it says to be successful in everything.   

With God's religion, all that is required is to Believe.  Then comes Faith, then Love and ultimately we then have Hope. 

• Faith to believe Jesus is the son of God.
• Faith to believe that Jesus died for our Sins.
• Faith to believe God will work everything out for his purpose. (You see it says His Purpose, Not Ours) 
• Faith to believe that with God all things are possible. Not some things. But all things. 

Christianity is not about following any rules. It's about giving all our man made rules to God so that in return he can give us a new heart to follow him.

Ezekiel 36:26

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 

That's his promise. Believe it today. 

Until Next Time, 

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Jennifer