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Reaction vs.
Reflection: An "old man’s" perspective… |
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young Ray
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No, I don’t really consider myself an old man, although sometimes it feels like it. When I look back at my past, it sure seems like I’ve been through a whole lot. Don’t get me wrong… I’m young! I’ve got a lot to learn still. But one thing that I’ve learned from my younger days is that there is a big difference between the "young" Ray and the "old" Ray. In my youth, the tendency was to react - to just do it. I can think of many occasions where if I had just given it some thought, I would not have not done the things that I have done. And yet, I still react to many things without giving it much thought. That is why I consider myself young. Maybe a better word to use would be immature… but I don’t like the sound of that | |
| so let’s move on. I’m sure that as the years go by, we all tend to look back at our past and remember those past days, good and bad… but that’s not the same as reflection. Reflection is a process where we sit down and try to understand where we’ve been and where it’s taking us and how we can use that to change the course of our lives for the better. We can learn from many parts of our lives: school, family, past and present relationships, and of course, our spiritual lives. And that is the thing I want to concentrate on… our spiritual growth. How often do we sit down and reflect on our spiritual lives?Have we been evaluating where we’ve been and where we’re going, if anywhere at all? Are we growing spiritually? Are we too comfortable with the state of our relationship with God, or are we too busy with the other parts of our lives to sit and reflect? Through the years, I’ve spent most of my time worrying about those other parts of my life rather than concentrating on my relationship with God. I still do. But lately God’s been taking those worries away and refocusing me on Him. And when I sit and reflect with the Lord, I realize that I need Him more and more in my life. Without His presence, I can’t mature spiritually. We all know that we need to spend time with God in order to mature spiritually. Through that, we can | ||
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slowly find out the plans that He has for us, which always seems to be the
worry of the day for many in college. As the Word says, "In his heart a
man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." (Proverbs 16:9).
So be in step with the Lord, and He will show you what He has in store for
you. "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5,6 |
Ray in Reflection |
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