two things

i was grateful for moments of silence today.  to study, to marvel, to digest thoughts, to process, to dream, to refocus...  i am learning that i have to be so intentional to find quiet.  i am too easily distracted and i desperately need those moments of quiet each day.

i have been studying in the psalms lately.  today were psalms 127 and 128.  to realize that true happiness and blessing come from two simple things was an encouragement to me.  happiness and blessing come from fearing God and following His commands.  it doesn't sound like a great ride--of being scared and following someone else's to-do list.  but if you truly ponder on what fearing God is and what obeying His commands mean, your perspective shifts.

i have done all kinds of things that do not fit into 'fearing God' or 'obeying His commands.'

the primary consequences are emptiness and a mess that only God can clean up.  that emptiness has been consuming in my life at times...there was a gnawing deep inside and truly, only God has been able to satisfy.  i think about the times i have felt the most full and God was always at the center of it.

our selfish moments can satisfy for a moment, but they leave you empty and thirsty afterwards.  we can choose to fill that with another selfish moment and another and another...but the emptiness will only deepen.  OR...we can look at what this Scripture shares and learn the life-lesson from it.  happiness and blessing only come from one place...and it is not us.  happiness and blessing can only come from a God that is to be feared, respected, revered and that can bless in ways that we cannot even begin to fathom.

that is what i want...deep, full happiness and blessing that does not fade because it comes from God.  i only need to do two things.  i only need to see God for who He is and i need to follow the example He has already laid out for us in His Son, Jesus Christ: to love God and to love others.

two things...