Good Sunday morning!
I have posted some of my latest devotionals recently, but rarely do I post what is going on directly in my mind and in my life. My devotionals are a direct result of that is going on in my world, in my thoughts and feelings and in my activities and relationships. It is my goal and desire to relate to others that life is life, we are all going through similar struggles and victories. Good and bad are all a part of life, but we get so distracted by the newsmakers we end up thinking we are the only ones with average lives and average problems, that God it too busy with all the catastrophes going on in the world. I'm here to speak out that we outnumber the newsmakers and God cares about each and every one with as much passion and love that He has and that is more than we can imagine. So if you are reading this and other posts, thank you and God bless you. Allow me to encourage you to press on, lean fully on Him and He will take you through your life and even though we may not make the evening news or entertainment weekly, God knows and more than that we have His loving attention. So go through your day with this thought "God is interested in what I am doing and how I feel."
In HIS Time
Teresa
Sunday, June 13, 2010
June 13, 2010
My Devotion
My Heart
ADHD Christianity
By Teresa Preston Jenkins
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody 1Thessalonians 4:11-12.
How focused are you? As a teacher I am well acquainted with talk about the disorder Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. My personal opinion is that in this day and age we could all be diagnosed with one or the other. As for me, I think both disorders take their turn swapping places, sometimes I suffer from ADD I just can’t stay focused on the task at hand. I get distracted by other thoughts and I just drag through my day without getting anything accomplished. It just happened…I’m writing and all of a sudden my mind clicks to the date and then to my plans for the next three weeks.
Then there are times when the ADHD kicks in and I’m bouncing from one activity to another like a ping pong ball out of control. Comically we can all look at this with humor as we mentally watch ourselves like an old cartoon. We all can relate, I think. I also think it is a very small number of people who are naturally good at staying focused and on task until each job is complete, why else has there been so many things invented to keep us on task, it’s a multi-billion dollar business.
Our way of life has dictated that we multi-task everything, we have to combine our work life, our family life, and even our spiritual life all into one activity in order to hopefully get anything accomplished. Why else do you think we see so many moms and dads at their children’s functions and activities with their phones to their ears or their techno-whatever in their hands working on something else. It has only been in recent years that at the beginning of every play or concert the director or announcer requests that all phones be turned off or on silent during the performance, what is really sad is now it is even posted on the big screen of churches as a reminder to the congregation to do the same during the worship service. And we wonder why stress is the number one cause of all our physical and mental problems.
You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? Galatians 5:17 I think we could add “what cut in on you?” We are bombarded 24/7 not only with the information highway, it has now turned in to cyberspace and there are no limitations. We are on information overload, it is no wonder ADD and ADHD are so prevalent it is more than one mind or body can do. Yet we try, we are so busy trying to catch up we completely miss our life altogether.
But this is only a fraction of the problem, the other major problem is in the mirror. It is you and me. We are the biggest obstacle to living the life we are supposed to live. I allow my attention disorders to control me instead of controlling them. Please don’t get me wrong, I know that these are very real disorders, I have worked with children who suffer from it and I know adults who suffer from it, it is very real, but I also know in minor forms plagues us all and can become a major pitfall if we don’t do something about it. The verse above says make it your ambition to live a quiet life, taking care of your business. I fall short of this a lot because there is nothing quiet about my life at all…and if it does get quiet, something must be wrong.
We know the verse that tells us that God knows His plans for us, but are you of the mindset that if God has plans for us they must be big plans? After all God is God, He is Almighty and all that you know. So when we learn of these plans we get ourselves busy trying to figure out all His BIG plans and start listening for the trumpet call announcement of what those plans are. “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business…” No that couldn’t be God’s plans, we are supposed to be advancing the kingdom, doing as much as we possibly can, right? Yes, sort of. The hardest part these days for most of the population is leading a quiet life and even harder than that is minding your own business. C’mon, you know it is true, it is so much easier to be all up in someone else’s business than taking care of our own boring quiet life. Example, the popularity of FaceBook and other networking sites. If we are not careful we can addict ourselves to knowing what is going on with our friends. It is yet one more distracting tool that has the potential to keep us from minding our business and leading a quiet life.
If we can master the small things we will be given bigger things. So if you’ve ever wondered, as I have, why God has not given us more to do in His plan maybe we should look at what we are doing now? Remember God will never give us more than we can bear, the job He has planned for us may never be ours if we can’t be good stewards of what He has already given us to do. You are exactly where you are supposed to be at this exact moment in time, where you go from here and when is not in His time, but when you decide to move forward. God can’t open a door before you get to it and He can’t close a door if you don’t walk through it. Focus, follow the plan, do what you’re given to do. Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and mind your own business…and your business will grow and your life will be productive for the kingdom and glory of God.
In HIS Time
Teresa
My Devotion, My Heart by Teresa Preston | ISBN # 978-1-61566-460-3
http://mydevotionmyheart.blogspot.com
My Devotion
My Heart
ADHD Christianity
By Teresa Preston Jenkins
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody 1Thessalonians 4:11-12.
How focused are you? As a teacher I am well acquainted with talk about the disorder Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. My personal opinion is that in this day and age we could all be diagnosed with one or the other. As for me, I think both disorders take their turn swapping places, sometimes I suffer from ADD I just can’t stay focused on the task at hand. I get distracted by other thoughts and I just drag through my day without getting anything accomplished. It just happened…I’m writing and all of a sudden my mind clicks to the date and then to my plans for the next three weeks.
Then there are times when the ADHD kicks in and I’m bouncing from one activity to another like a ping pong ball out of control. Comically we can all look at this with humor as we mentally watch ourselves like an old cartoon. We all can relate, I think. I also think it is a very small number of people who are naturally good at staying focused and on task until each job is complete, why else has there been so many things invented to keep us on task, it’s a multi-billion dollar business.
Our way of life has dictated that we multi-task everything, we have to combine our work life, our family life, and even our spiritual life all into one activity in order to hopefully get anything accomplished. Why else do you think we see so many moms and dads at their children’s functions and activities with their phones to their ears or their techno-whatever in their hands working on something else. It has only been in recent years that at the beginning of every play or concert the director or announcer requests that all phones be turned off or on silent during the performance, what is really sad is now it is even posted on the big screen of churches as a reminder to the congregation to do the same during the worship service. And we wonder why stress is the number one cause of all our physical and mental problems.
You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? Galatians 5:17 I think we could add “what cut in on you?” We are bombarded 24/7 not only with the information highway, it has now turned in to cyberspace and there are no limitations. We are on information overload, it is no wonder ADD and ADHD are so prevalent it is more than one mind or body can do. Yet we try, we are so busy trying to catch up we completely miss our life altogether.
But this is only a fraction of the problem, the other major problem is in the mirror. It is you and me. We are the biggest obstacle to living the life we are supposed to live. I allow my attention disorders to control me instead of controlling them. Please don’t get me wrong, I know that these are very real disorders, I have worked with children who suffer from it and I know adults who suffer from it, it is very real, but I also know in minor forms plagues us all and can become a major pitfall if we don’t do something about it. The verse above says make it your ambition to live a quiet life, taking care of your business. I fall short of this a lot because there is nothing quiet about my life at all…and if it does get quiet, something must be wrong.
We know the verse that tells us that God knows His plans for us, but are you of the mindset that if God has plans for us they must be big plans? After all God is God, He is Almighty and all that you know. So when we learn of these plans we get ourselves busy trying to figure out all His BIG plans and start listening for the trumpet call announcement of what those plans are. “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business…” No that couldn’t be God’s plans, we are supposed to be advancing the kingdom, doing as much as we possibly can, right? Yes, sort of. The hardest part these days for most of the population is leading a quiet life and even harder than that is minding your own business. C’mon, you know it is true, it is so much easier to be all up in someone else’s business than taking care of our own boring quiet life. Example, the popularity of FaceBook and other networking sites. If we are not careful we can addict ourselves to knowing what is going on with our friends. It is yet one more distracting tool that has the potential to keep us from minding our business and leading a quiet life.
If we can master the small things we will be given bigger things. So if you’ve ever wondered, as I have, why God has not given us more to do in His plan maybe we should look at what we are doing now? Remember God will never give us more than we can bear, the job He has planned for us may never be ours if we can’t be good stewards of what He has already given us to do. You are exactly where you are supposed to be at this exact moment in time, where you go from here and when is not in His time, but when you decide to move forward. God can’t open a door before you get to it and He can’t close a door if you don’t walk through it. Focus, follow the plan, do what you’re given to do. Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and mind your own business…and your business will grow and your life will be productive for the kingdom and glory of God.
In HIS Time
Teresa
My Devotion, My Heart by Teresa Preston | ISBN # 978-1-61566-460-3
http://mydevotionmyheart.blogspot.com
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