NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

April 30

Scripture focus: Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words. Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 NIV

One of the many suggested formats for a fourth step inventory includes making a list of resentments, fears and sexual misconduct. As we complete this list, we also make note of how these events hurt us and how we hurt others. This work is not for sissies. To my knowledge, Marion never completed a fourth step inventory nor did she need to. Her understanding of life and how things worked taught her to self-evaluate regularly and often. She used God’s word as a measuring stick for assessing herself.

My brother, “Dr. Jones,” (if you’ve read the entire month’s devotionals, you know what this means) is a man of many talents. One of those abilities is training dogs. When Marion got sick, he came up to see her. In the end, it turned out he was here for the funeral. She would have so loved him coming to see her off. One evening we all sat down to dinner, and our little grand puppy was running around acting like an adolescent dog; she was completely developmentally appropriate. “Dr. Jones” offered Charley’s ‘mom’ some sound advice: “Charley is moving into doggy adolescence. This is where her training successes and weaknesses are going to become apparent. When you see a weakness, the faster you respond to it, the better. The longer you ignore the issue, the more drastic the measures you will have to take to fix the problem.”

There’s a reason we all him Dr. Jones. He’s smart.

I am always nagging people to inventory their lives. I use the fourth step model because I’ve discovered that so few people actually know how to evaluate their own life story – especially when it comes to taking ownership for their weaknesses.

Marion’s last week was such a peaceful experience. Her fine example will continue to inspire me to inventory my own life, and nag you to do likewise. But don’t forget – this isn’t so that we can beat ourselves up, it is one step, one way, one suggestion, for getting in touch with our past wounds – for the purpose of resolution. Resolving our past helps us discover the life God intended for us.

Scripture focus: Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand. Ecclesiastes 5:15 NIV

Although our departure is made buck naked, the coolest part of the trip is that we don’t need to pack anything to take with us. When we reach the heavenlies, everything we need is already waiting for us.

This is really important to remember, especially if we’re still trying to acquire things to enrich our earthly existence. Maybe, unlike Donald Miller, we’re still hoping a Volvo will make us happy. Perhaps we haven’t consciously thought through the implications of our perceived greatest desires. A fourth step inventory can provide clarity about our values, and our weaknesses.

I would ask you to consider these things. Take seriously the shortness of life and the blessing (and responsibility) of breathing. Juanita Ryan has written a lovely book that could inform your journey; it’s called Keep Breathing. Our NorthStar Community folks will be studying this book in our fall study groups. But I’d suggest grabbing a copy and begin reading immediately. Faced with her own mortality, Juanita blesses us by sharing how she made sense of the journey.

Life is short, but a breath. Keep breathing. May we experience the life God intended for us, as we learn to breathe with a grateful heart. (Laughing as you go certainly doesn’t hurt.)

One last thought. Who might be studying your life – and what are they learning? Are you ok with the lessons your life is teaching others?



Click on the word comments below and join our conversation!

© Copyright 2010 NorthStar Community

---