Hey, it’s Lee!
It’s been awhile since I’ve written a post here, with a lot of things that have happened lately in my personal and family life. I’m now back in the game, and here’s #ATroubadoursProgress, it’s my soulful reflection of a certain Bible verse.
No one can change you except you and God. Yet, while God can do everything, you have to remember, God also gave you freewill. So if you’re not committed to intentionally change yourself for the better, then chances are, you won’t change.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old has gone, the new is here.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
Intentional Commitment. Work in, work out. These are one of the striking words that I got today when I re-read “The Purpose Driven Life.”
If you want to change, to really start anew, it’s not marking a scheduled date to make it significant – that’s superficial. It’s one’s eternal resolve to make things happen and allowing the Holy Spirit to work through you, that’s what is important. That’s where you can say you are everyday a new creation and looking forward to a new beginning.
My dad just died weeks ago and one of the promises I made to him is that I’ll make sure I corrected my life and live, really live and not just earn a living. While coping for my father’s loss is one thing, I’ve struggled to really bounce back.
My dad’s death was a cautionary tale to live my life to the fullest. I slowly and surely have made a headway with life now. It’s not easy, especially when I’m that time of person who usually procastinate and wake-up around late. Even with my new day job, I initially woke-up at 7:00 am and cramming, scamming to start my day.
Now, guess, how early I wake up? I wake-up as early as 4:15. Actually, my real wake-up time is 4:30 am, but just in case I don’t overcome my first thing in the morning “heroic moment”, I have a few minutes to have a little snooze. The funny thing, is through days of waking up early, it takes me only a minute or none at all to stand-up and begin my morning ritual.
I personally wouldn’t have done this, without God’s help. I’ve always askued the Lord to please change me. But while God is in control, I remember that He also provided us freedom and freewill, thus I had to intentionally make a commitment to change.
And I did. It’s not a complete, major turn around yet. But somehow, I’ve got my morning routine downpat with an hour (not anymore just a Sacred Half hour) with God but also watch the sunrise for better mental health.
During the Sacred (Half) Hour, I came across the words “Intentional commitment”. When you want to change, you decide and intentionally be committed to work on it. Some sacrifices will be done to correct but the erroneous habits, but in a long run, I personally reaped the benefits it brought me. There was an increase on both my work productivity and personal growth. I became less temperamental and less stress out, too.
Also in the same chapter, Rick Warren further explained that it’s a Work In and Work – out situation. Work in because you have to condition yourself to change for the better. You work with what’s inside of you – habits, thoughts etc. Then Mr. Warren continues with, Work out. You allow the Holy Spirit to Work Out on these changes. You allow the Spirit to transform you.
While we don’t work for our salvation, as it’s a gift we received by Christ’s sacrifice for us, we continuously have to ‘work in and work out’ with the Spirit to be persistent and resilient.
New become a new creation not in an instant, but by intentional commitment to God to allow His Holy Spirit to work through by consciously changing ourselves.
Happy Sunday! Carpe Diem!
Hey It's Lee! PH 