Sermon Notes

This afternoon's blog post is brought to you by boring sermons.

Sometimes I think God allows a sermon to bore me to tears so I can get an hour of quiet reflection time. So thank you monotones of the world, God has worked through you to make me a more Christ-like person. Here's what God has shown me today. They won't come as a shock to you who have read more than two of my blog posts.

Elizabeth Johnson's Character flaws
Arrogance - I don't do humbleness or meekness with any tact. In fact I down right stink at these qualities. I can fake humbleness for about 20 minutes then fall miserably short by blabbing all about me. As my momma says: "Enough about me, what do you think of me?" But that's not the worst of it...the truth is I think I deserve more blessings because I am a more godly person....yikes, I'm on dangerous ground.

Respectfulness and trust - If God's timing or plan happen to be at odds with my plan or timing there's gonna be a tussle. If I had more faith and trust I could sit back,  relax and let God's good times roll.  But, as it is I prefer to panic, mouth off and freak out. Such a beautiful picture of submission, huh?

Demanding - I want what I want when I want it .......NOW. I haven't grown in this area since toddler hood as you can see. I have 27 years of catch up to do.

Patience - Real patience: the sort of long suffering that perseveres without end and yet keeps the faith. A peacefulness that it is well with one's soul even when the circumstances are dismal- I don't do that. I can have patience when there is an end in sight but that's not authentic patience. My current variety of patience is short term and fairly useless.

Thankfulness and appreciation - Arch, thankfulness is a fine art. I am suspicious of truly thankful people. How can they experience real disappointment and act so cheery? Thankfulness, I've decided, is a learned emotion and I'm gonna learn it even if I grumble the whole way through.

Controlling - I like living under the illusion of control. It just makes me feel safer about living in a chaotic world. The problem comes when I can't fix the problem with my resources. It's excruciatingly hard for me to be still and accept those things that I can not change. Somebody cross stitch me the Serenity Prayer already.

Impulsive -My motto: Good idea, great plan, good word? share it IMMEDIATLY. Don't wait and pray, JUST DO IT. I don't need to tell you that this has gotten me in a pickle more than a time or two. I need to ditch the Nike motto as a way of life.

Entitlement - A new friend brought this to my attention a week ago. I was taken off guard and ready to defend my self-righteous ways to the death when she 'brought me the word'. However, I decided against a cage match and let her speak the truth in love to me. It's true I think I am worthy of every good and perfect thing. Entitlement with a twist of arrogance...makes a bitter cocktail.

So I am confessing I am a mess, a hot little mess and I'm okay with that because I know the one who started a good and perfect work in me will not rest until He sees his work though. Acceptance is the first step I'm told.