Just for Today…Whisper I love you

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Good morning friends! It’s a snowy winters morning here at the Rippy household and boy do we love it! Biscuits, turkey bacon, and eggs with talk glasses of OJ have all been consumed by my family and one very special guest, and now we’re ready to get the day going. But before everyone gathered in the kitchen, I was able to have some Bible reading time with the Lord and I would love to share some of that special time with you. I need to backtrack a bit first —- It was on January 1, 2015, I asked the Lord a question, “Father, what is Your instruction for me as I enter into a new year?” He took me to this one verse that is found in the parable of the 3 servants, all given “talents.” (Luke 19:11-27) As I read one verse, (vs 13), I knew He was speaking right to my heart because I felt His peace while at the same time I had a real sense of urgency to obey.

The Lord clearly said, “My child, engage in business until I come back.” 

But what business?,” I asked Him.

My Father’s business,” (said Jesus.)

1 - 1 - 2015

There’s a book I’ve been reading that has gone right along with the Lord’s commissioning on my life and I want to share some of it with you. I know why I feel so strongly about living with hearts turned toward Home ( The Home of God’s own heart ), and this one chapter in Robert Morgan’s book, “Mastering Life Before It’s Too Late” has perfectly…beautifully…and completely penned my own thoughts. As I read this morning in Psalm 119:36, it says, “Turn my heart to YOUR decrees and not to material gain.”

Just for today, there is nothing this world can offer me that is of greater worth than living with my heart turned toward the Lord, and engaging in my Father’s business until He comes back. Nothing.

So, I’ll take today (2-21-2015) and tomorrow (2-22-2015) to share with you my personal aspirations that I’m also finding resonated in Robert Morgan’s book.

Our Father’s business may consume our lifetimes, but we can’t just think of it in lifelong terms. Having made an abiding decision to commit ourselves to the lordship of Christ and the will (the business) of God, we must then reduce it to bite-size realities, which we call “days.” We can faithfully implement this attitude on a daily basis. Awakening each morning, we can say: “This is the day the Lord has made for me. Today I must be about His business.” We can offer the same prayer Paul uttered in Acts 22:10: “Lord, what do you want me to do?” The unfolding day no longer belongs to us; we become servants and stewards of the minutes and moments God has ordained for us. At the end of the evening, our work behind us, we can tuck ourselves into bed with the terminal words of Christ echoing in our evening prayers: “It is finished for today. I have brought You glory this day by finishing the work You assigned, as best I could.” Our To-Do lists may be longer at the end of the day than at the beginning, and we may feel we left much undone. But if we committed the day to the Lord, doing our best to accomplish His will during the intervening hours, we can leave both the done and the undone in His hands and fall asleep with a sense of completion and contentment.

(If you click on the crooked photo it will enlarge 🙂

II - Plan out your day

In his book of hymn stories, the great song leader Ira Sankey wrote of a washerwoman who, while passing a mission chapel, heard a group of children singing this song. She was struck with the words, and she pondered them the next day as she bent over her washtub. “Have I ever done a day’s work for Jesus in all my life?,” she asked herself.  That marked a turning point for her. Then and there she began doing her work each day for the Lord. She washed clothes for Jesus, cleaned the house for Jesus, took care of her family for Jesus. She began practicing Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”  

According to Sankey, a new light came into her life; and at the close of that day she could sing with a different feeling and new enthusiasm: “One more day’s work for Jesus! How sweet the work has been.

We’re not all washerwomen, but many of us toil away at tasks seldom noticed by others. We’re not always doing great things, but anything done in the spirit of Colossians 3:23 is great in God’s sight. The smallest duty, if Christ assigns it and we accomplish it, is grander in God’s eyes than building pyramids or acquiring a vast domain. After we’ve undertaken each day’s work for Jesus, we can lay our heads on our pillows night after night, knowing we’ve been about our Father’s business. The next morning we arise to a new God-planned day, and we find joy in the journey. Every day is a divine adventure.

Friends, if there were ever words written to summarize the passion of mine and Rip’s heart, the dream that God has placed in both of us to engage with Him in…you just read them. I believe that as I woke up this morning, I woke up to a day that has kingdom significance and is already planned in advance of works that I’m to do for Jesus!

Just for today.

The whispers of “I love you” will be heard, felt, seen, craved and devoured in our homes through every single moment we engage in our Father’s business.

Just for today, whisper I love you to those in and outside of your home by simply committing Colossians 3:23 as the motive behind all you do.

Redeeming the Time,

lisa

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lisa rippy

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  1. Stacey on February 21, 2015 at 6:53 pm

    Thank you Lisa! Home is very important to me as well, but with being a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom of 4 (ages 4,7,11,16), I know how quickly home can become a burden if we let the enemy come in and attack the very area that God has ordained for our lives. Thanks for this reminder today to commit our days to the Lord, to complete the work we have set before us for HIM, because this work we do daily at home IS very important! Oh, I live not far from you, on the other side of Nashville, in Gallatin.

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