It’s hard to believe that it is already October 31! That means we are smack dab in the middle of Fall, y’all. And I don’t know about you, but this is the time of year that I tend to get a little overwhelmed.[tweetthis]This is the time of year that I tend to get a little overwhelmed[/tweetthis]

It seems like in the Fall, there are more things to do—family and church commitments ramp up, school is in full swing—we don’t want to miss out, we don’t want to disappoint anyone—it kind of leaves me with a tummy ache, if I think too much about it.  All these sweet things can go sour.

This is what happens when I keep my eyes trained on the wrong stuff.

My dad used to tell me, “Ask yourself if whatever you’re worrying about will matter next week, next month, in a year, or in five years…” Almost all the time the answer is, “No. It won’t matter.”

What matters? If we want to be people who live by God’s Word, we have to remember how Jesus set our priorities. [tweetthis] If we want to be people who live by God’s Word, we have to remember how Jesus set our priorities.[/tweetthis] He told us what matters—loving God and loving people.

What Matters

Loving God means we remember that we were bought at a great price. We are God’s Dwelling Place. Our lives are to be an act of worship—demonstrating His worthiness. Loving God means we yield to Him when we would rather go our own way. It means that when we mess up, we admit it.

Loving people is harder for me. When I forget that I was redeemed at a great price, I lose perspective in my relationships.  I don’t demonstrate His worthiness when I put others myself first. Some days the best I can do it to admit that I have messed up—I have not loved those that are hard to love. I have remembered the offenses too long.

At the end of this #Write31Days challenge, I find myself in the same place I was at the beginning. I wanted to learn something new, to grow…but so many of these things take more than 31 days. At the end here, I have the same prayer that I would have prayed at the beginning:

Lord, create in me a clean heart, a heart that loves to please You and rushes to humble itself. A heart that spends time well and is grateful for all Your gifts. Help me to love like You do. Lord, help me to chase what matters.

It is good to remember that He will finish the good work that He has started in me…(Phil 1:6). Right?