Call Me Irresponsible

Irresponsibly Mad for God

It's a funny thing, that word responsibility.  There's a good chance that I'll use it again, and often. I created a strengths finder profile some time ago, and my number one most obvious strength came back as responsibility.  God created me to be responsible.  According to strengths finder, this pretty much means that  I believe in the idea that honesty is the best policy - if I promise something, I believe in fulfilling that promise.  It gets me into trouble, sometimes, because responsibilities can and often do, conflict with one another.

Imagine promising to deliver a project on time to your supervisor.  Now, also imagine promising to your family that you will take more time to spend quality time with them.  Uh oh... here comes a potential conflict. If the project timeline starts to slip, do you give up time with your family?  But, then, family should rank higher than work in order of importance, shouldn't it?  Like I said, responsibility can get me into trouble. I believe that I have to earn the trust of those around me, but the most important trust I have to earn belongs to God.  He provides me with challenges, which in truth, are opportunities to prove that I deserve the responsibility he gives me.

Responsibility given by God sometimes provides interesting and challenging barriers, some of which put me into positions that are counter to the idea that I am, first and foremost, responsible.  I trust that God made me the kind of soul worthy the responsibility he gives me, even when I do screw it up sometimes.  I know I'm only human. And, sometimes when I'm trying to be a responsible steward in some cases, it makes me irresponsible in others.  I'm still actively learning how to prioritize my responsibilities.  I'm also still learning how to shut my mouth and open my ears so that God can help me put first things first.  I can even say that I've made some serious mistakes recently, counter to the core of my responsible being.  I've been irresponsible recently (though, not lately) and I intend on spending time reflecting and working on earning the trust of those I hurt, and also showing God that I am the responsible person He made me and wants me to be.

So, I have some things that I need to be more responsible for, and I have some things that I need to move away from, because it would actually be the responsible thing to do.  With God's help, the next few posts I write will actively concentrate on several things:

1. Putting God in first place in my life - Being a better Christian
2. Putting my wife in second place in my life - Being a better Husband
3. Putting my daughter in third place in my life - Being a better Father
4. Learning to trust others, and myself, with my professional quality at work - Being a better Employee

As I continue down the path to being more responsible for these things, I thank God that he will offer me enlightenment as I work on them.  I also ask Him to help me make my journey a successful one, because there are times when I will fall. He knows that I fell hard recently, and He knows I have a long way to go in rebuilding some broken trust. But, He also knows that I'm seriously committed to working on it, and for the fact that he gave me a heart committed to being responsible - I am certainly thankful.

Fiscal Responsibility

While I could probably write a lengthy bit about our family and what we do to maintain fiscal responsibility, instead I'd like to focus on why He wants us to have fiscal responsibility.  Even now he has an eternal home prepared for us.  He also has a role for us to serve in eternity.  He expects responsibility, and trusts us to follow through in the life eternal he grants us.  So, we must prove to him in our mortal lives that we are worthy of our eternal gifts.  If we manage our family finances with grace and without worry, then the larger eternal gifts and responsibilities that await us will surely bring Him a smile when we receive and manage them properly.

One of the most important aspects of achieving personal fiscal liberty lies in having the ability to support others who are unable to support themselves.  Only when our own family finances are in order and responsibly managed can we afford to give to others without fear.  Tonight my wife wrote a sizable check for a  Good cause, one that I know He would be happy to see us donating towards.  If we didn't take care of our financial gifts properly, there's no way this would be possible.  I've heard of families with incomes double or triple ours, yet unable to give due to squandering their financial gains.  I won't call it wealth, because the truly wealthy are those that respect what they have been given by Our Lord (in my opinion).

Now, this isn't to say that my family is "financially perfect" with our responsibility.  However, I can say we strive very hard to take care of our financial independence and growth.  We truly see debt as four letter word to be avoided.  Credit is a close second, and must be treated with great respect when used, because credit really is just another fancy word for debt, at least if we buy things we cannot pay for in cash.

I thank God that my wife and I are on the same page about having a family budget, and about just about every aspect of managing that budget.  As our financial wealth continues to grow (God willing), I hope that we can use our finances to help His purpose in our lives evident.

I ask God only for the wisdom to continue to grow our finances for His glory.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

"Do not be anxious then, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?' "For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. "Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:31-34

I find myself being human much to readily.  Granted, God designed me to be human, so that's OK.  But, I also find myself worrying too much about every day things.  Now, some of these things do matter in the context of my mortal life, and even matter in terms of eternity - as our role in this life directly impacts our place in the next.  But, much too often I forget that there's a difference between human business and God business.  I forget that some of the things I worry about are really none of my business at all to worry about, God will take care of it for me.

Something that I believe as helped me in the past, and will continue to help me as I grow spiritually, is to look around at the things God has provided for me. Much like a father provides for his family and children, God provides for his spiritual family.  He certainly does love me, and I know this because of the love that I have for my child.  While my love is grand, His love is immeasurable and He desires nothing more for that love to come back to Him. When I remember the fact that I have a happy and healthy child, a (usually) happy and healthy marriage, and I am healthy, I see no reason not to be happy.

Anxiety comes completely from humanness and desire to control things that are beyond our own grasp.  I know the anxiety demon well, I grapple with it on a regular basis - often many times a day. Satan really likes it when I worry, he plays tricks on me and gets me to thinking I can handle things on my own.  Thankfully, God knows how to brush Satan aside, sometimes it takes me a while to ask for His help though.  I need to remember that all of my strength was given to me by Him.  All of my abilities and know-how, He ensured I'd have in place when I needed them.  When the anxiety of mortal life becomes a burden too great to bear, I find it important to remember Him.  After all, on the last day of each of our worries, we will meet Him face to face.  And, for that, I am certainly most thankful.

Why a Lion?

Well, I've actually found two reasons to consider myself a Lion of God.  First of all, my surname translates to "Lion Valley" (Valley of the Lions) which seems pertinent.  Second of all, C.S. Lewis imagining Jesus as a Lion has helped me connect personally with a metaphor that has potency in my own life.  Therefore, I consider myself in the same metaphor of the Lion.  Strong, for certain.  But, that strength ultimately comes from my creator and King, our God.

As time allows, I intend on focusing my attention on becoming one of God's warriors.  A Lion warrior, if you will. It won't be easy sometimes. But, easy is not the point. Unshakable faith is. Something I still need lots of work on.