Envy

Our Christian walk will be damaged by envy. A feeling of displeasure about someone else's good fortune and blessings can also cause harm to our witness, because it often gives people an opportunity to act out in hostility and bitterness. And the catch here is that the jealous person suffers far more than does her/his target.

Before we can begin to rid ourselves of these envious feelings, we first must be willing to admit that we have them. Like greed, jealousy is an emotion we don't like to admit we have. But the trick is that the Lord already knows. We're not telling Him anything He doesn't already know. We also need to recognize that harboring envy is the same as objecting to God's blessings upon the other believer's life. Regardless of how we try to excuse or rationalize such feelings, as long as we have them we are in conflict with the Lord over this issue. Quite simply said, a person cannot be simultaneously jealous and right with the Lord at the same time. They are not compatible in any form.

The easiest and surest way to rid ourselves of resentment is through prayer. After we've confessed these jealous feelings to the Lord, we must begin to pray for the other person. Our petition should have two elements: 1) an offering of genuine thanksgiving for the blessings in his or her life, and, 2) a request that God will place love for the individual in our hearts. At the outset, praying in this way will no doubt be difficult, but as love grows ... and it will ... we'll find that the words come more easily and joyfully.

Envy is inappropriate for those of us who follow Christ since it distracts us from the Lord and is a negative and destructive emotion. We have the promise that if we take delight in our heavenly
Father, He will give us the desires of our hearts. So we must refocus our attention upon Him and what He's doing in our own lives instead of dwelling on useless envious emotions.

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It's remarkable. I find that when I get up early I have more time in my day to get things done. Isn't that amazing? Sunshine greeted me bright and early this morning and it's so nice to have the overcast gone for a change. I was beginning to think I lived back down in the Valley with all the valley fog. Sunshine is nice for a change.

I have a meeting (over lunch no less) today. I'm meeting in a dual capacity as a member of Commission III and as the Chair of the Board of Deacons. It will give me a chance to tell Rita and Evelyn how much I appreciate what they do as the Missions Committee. They always have something going on to call attention to missions. And they do such a good job too. They are constantly changing the mission's bulletin board, putting flashy new material up to catch every one's eyes along with letters we receive from different missionaries. They have been so faithful all year to do this for everyone. If they need to be appointed every year, I hope I have the "power" to reappoint them today. I would think I would. I'm going with that assumption anyway. I hope to schedule a meeting with commissions I and II for next week or the week after. Commission I is so small I may just meet with each person individually. There are only two of them. There's 3 in commission II if you count Peggy (we are all assuming Peggy will come back to her deaconship (I may have just made up a word, I don't know, but it serves the purpose I intended for it to) after she recuperates from her surgery. So I may meet individually with each of them too. It's so hard to know what to do when there are so few people in each commission. There are 3 of us in commission III so there will be five of us meeting today. Five calls for a meeting but I'm not sure 3 does. I'll ask them and see if they feel they want to have a meeting or just talk to me individually. A meeting acknowledges and solidifies the fact that they are a team but I still don't know if they'll want to have one. I don't want it to seem that I'm throwing my weight around just because I'm chair. But at the same time I want them to know I recognize their commission and I want them to know that I'll do anything I can to make their work a little easier. I want to be a good chair but I don't want to come off like I think I'm a big shot or something. I'm just the opposite of that. You know, I don't know I just thought of something. I don't know what commission Joann serves. Guess I'll have to ask her next time I see her. And I know all this is fascinating to all my readers. LOL. Sorry.

I don't have much for a blog today. Just my thoughts about my responsibilities and my desire to fulfill my duties as chair in the best way possible. When God calls us up to fill a position in His body, He expects us to fill it to the best of our abilities. Being chair isn't all that complicated it's just asking me to step out of my comfort zone and be a leader. I pray that the Lord will use me in a mighty way and that He will do His part in filling me with the Holy Spirit to do the things He wants done. I pray that He will not let others think I think I'm something special; because I sure don't. I guess I'll let this be it for today. I need to wash and style my hair before going to the meeting. I think I need to buy a couple wigs. LOL. That would make going to meetings so much easier. Just pull on a wig and go. The only problem is that they all look like wigs. I've discovered older women wear wigs quite a bit. I notice them when I'm standing in line at the Post Office or grocery store. You can almost always tell a wig by the way it fits around the neckline in the back. I was just joking though. I think. LOL. Okay ... until tomorrow ...