Luke 10:38-42 NIV
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

So, you're sitting in your kitchen, and your friend comes over. You want to be a good hostess so you offer her a cup of something cold to drink. You open the cupboard, grab a clean pitcher and a glass, and start to pour, right? No. First, you have to fill up the pitcher with water, ice, and maybe even some iced tea or drink mix, and then you pour. This is pretty obvious. If you didn't do this, you'd just be giving her a glass of air. So, why do we try to pour ourselves out in serving before we fill ourselves up?

Serving is good. Helping others is good. But, you can spend sixty plus hours of your week serving and helping without spending a minute of time in prayer and in God's Word. Anyone can serve. Anyone can donate money to a good cause, but if we're serving for serving's sake, we're missing the point. 

In the story of Mary and Martha, it says that preparations had to be made. Jesus doesn't say that serving and preparing were bad things to do, He just says that the better thing to do, the best thing to do, was to sit and spend time with Him. Martha was so worried about getting everything done, but don't you think  if she were to sit with Mary and listen to Jesus for awhile, that He would be faithful to help them get everything done? All the preparations would be made, and they wouldn't be emberassed or lacking as hostesses? After all, he fed thousands with minimal food and had some to spare.

If we serve or help others, we should do it because it's the right thing to do, but we should also do it to point them to Christ and His unconditional love for them. If we're not taking care of ourselves and our spiritual growth, it's going to be really hard to speak truth when the opportunity arises.

On the other hand, if we're filling, filling, filling, without ever trying to pour ourselves out in serving others, we're growing closer to God, but we're missing one of His main points in loving others. We're learning, but not applying. We need to find the balance between serving and seeking.

As you examine your life, here are some questions to ask yourself to see if you are keeping a good balance. Some may be a little difficult to digest, but we need to be honest with ourselves.

1. Look at your week as a whole. How many hours do you spend with the Lord, whether it be on your own or in Christian community, learning and growing? How many hours do you spend serving and doing things? Do these hours balance? Do you have a good life ratio of seeking and serving?
2. Are you willing to forego your time with God, Bible studies, or church on Sunday morning in order to serve somewhere? (Once in awhile is okay, and even necessary, but if the majority of time is your answer, then it may be time for some self-reflection and schedule adjustments).
3. Do you serve simply out of obligation or do you find joy while you serve? This may be an indication that you're filled up and not just running on empty.  By the way, I wouldn't always use tiredness as an indicator of whether or not you're serving too much. Helping with the youth paintball outing? It doesn't matter how the rest of your week went, you're probably going to leave tired.

As I'm writing this, we're in the middle of a pandemic and everything is weird right now, but I want to encourage you to not use this as an excuse. Honestly, your balance of serving and seeking may be a little off right now, but take some to examine and see if you can fix it at all, if needed. Stuck at home a lot? Listen to sermons, read your Bible, spend time in prayer. Ready to put some serving back in your life? Start small. Find a simple, uncompromising way to serve yet stay safe and healthy. Trust me, there is somewhere you can serve if you just look!

I started journalling several years ago, and it changed my devotional time! I went from sitting for a couple minutes, getting distracted, and then moving on to something else, to relaxing, focusing, and establishing a rhythm of devotion and prayer.

When I journal, it's not simply putting my thoughts down as I vent and process my life, but I journal my prayers. I have journals filled with prayers of simple requests, big heartfelt wishes, and just discussions with God about what's on my heart.

Here are three things I've learned while journaling:

1. Journaling helps me stay focused. For me, sitting and praying is really hard. I have a hard time shoving my To Do List out of my mind, not pulling out my phone, or just thinking about other things. When I write my prayers down, I can sit for a lot longer and keep my thoughts focused on God as I talk with Him about anything and everything.
2. It doesn't matter what time of day that you journal and pray. I've tried to wake up early and pray, and I've tried to journal and pray before bed. During both of these options, it's hard for me to stay awake, let alone stay focused. I encourage you to look at your schedule, and decide when is the best time for you to journal and pray. When I was a teacher, I would come home after school everyday and sit in my comfy chair and journal. Lately, I've been going into church, working a few hours, and then sit and journal for a bit before continuing with my day. Remember that the main goal is spending time with the Lord!
3. Look back and see how God has answered prayer. One of the most beautiful things about journalling is being able to look back and see how God has answered your prayers! If you write everything down, you can easily flip back, and see how far that God has brought you. Maybe He has answered some of your prayers or maybe He has just grown you in the waiting process. Overall, it's encouraging to see growth from days to months to years.

I encourage you to consider journaling your prayers, especially if you have trouble focusing, and see how it impacts your prayer life. And, you're the only one reading your journals, so you don't have to worry about penmanship!

Looking for a new journal? Check out My Waiting and Praying Journal on Amazon.

I know, I know, you're completely sick of hearing the phrase "social distancing", but it's been about seven months, and it's still here. Honestly, it may never go away, so I guess we're just going to have to deal with it. The real problem is that the phrase "physical distancing" should have been the one to stick. Social distancing ourselves is not helping our relationships, our mental health, and our families. Physical distancing, especially for those who have low immune systems, is what we should be focusing on, yet still maintaining the relationships that we have.

I think it has come to the awkward stage now where everyone is uncertain who is done with social distancing and who wants to continue. This can apply to masks, hugs, or simply being in a private or public gathering. So, here are some ways to break the ice, keep relationships going, and reach out to people even if we are uncertain of their social distancing requirements. 

1. Send a Card: I know this takes effort because you need to buy stamps and cards, but who doesn't love receiving snail mail? You don't need to write a book to someone, but simply send them a card saying that you are thinking of them, praying for them, and hope they're doing well. (I don't know about you, but I know I have cards around my house that I could send)!
2. Phone Call: I'll start out by saying that I'm a hypocrite on this one because talking on the phone is one of my least favorite things to do, but for all of you who enjoy talking on the phone, here you go! (Don't worry, I do have a handful of people that I'm okay with talking to on the phone). Give someone a call, hear their voice, let them hear yours, and just see how they're doing and talk about whatever. 
3. Send a Text: (This one fits me better). It may seem easy, but sending someone a text to say "hi" and let them know you're thinking of them may brighten their day! You could even send them a text to see if they are free to chat sometime to avoid getting voicemail. Include emojis and make the text even more fun and heartfelt!
4. Be Social on Social Media: It's easy to like people's status updates, pictures, or check-ins, but social media is for interacting, so I encourage you to try to be a little more social. If someone posts a cute picture of their kid or pet, tell them so. If someone posts about an accomplishment, congratulate them. If someone posts that  they're struggling, let them know that you'll pray for them. It only takes a couple seconds, and is a better than just liking their post.
5. Do Something: My final suggestion, if you're comfortable, is to go out and do something. If you want to see someone, just be honest about how you're handling social distancing. Mask or no mask? Inside or outside? How many people are you comfortable being around? Discuss your boundaries, and get together. I think you'll be surprised at how refreshing this option could be for your soul and your relationships. 

I know there are many other creative things that could be done, but here are just a few. Take care of yourself physically, but take care of yourself emotionally and relationally. Keep on living no matter what!

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." Philippians 4:8

I love coffee! For me, it's a must-do for every morning. If I don't have at least one cup, the day is going to be a little off without my needed dose of caffeine. Lately, I've been trying to watch my spending so have been making a lot more coffee in the regular coffee maker with coffee grounds and good old-fashioned coffee filters instead of my single serve machine.

And you know what I don't love? Drinking my delicious coffee, taking in every sip, and when I get to the bottom, discover that coffee grounds got into my cup, and I have to go spit them out in the sink. Gross! This hasn't happened in awhile, but when it does, I go over and check the status of the coffee maker. Sure enough, in the process, the weight of the water pushed down the edge of the coffee filter, and some grounds snuck into the pot and then ended up in my cup. It kind of ruins my relaxing start to the day.

Filters of all kinds, are so helpful. They separate the bad from the good, the truth from the lies, the wanted from the unwanted. We use coffee filters, air filters, water filters, and more. Why do we sometimes forget to use filters when we are speaking or posting on social media?

As Christians, the most important filter we can use is the Bible. If anything we hear contradicts the Bible, it isn't true. Therefore, we shouldn't repeat it. If anything we hear contradicts God's view of those He created in his image, it isn't true. Therefore, we shouldn't repeat it. 

Philippians Chapter Four provides us with a great filter to protect our thinking and speaking. If anything isn't excellent or praiseworthy or admirable or true, we shouldn't think about it, let alone say it. It harms others and it harms ourselves. 

I want to encourage you to start using God's Word as a filter more intentionally before you speak or share things on social media. See how it changes your life and changes the lives of those around you.