Scripture Memory Round 7!!

For the record, I'm tired.

I took Kathryn to the Britney Spears concert on Monday night - and I didn't get home until 2:30am (I had to drive her home after the concert - and turn around and drive an hour and a half back to my house). It was definitely worth it though...because I don't get to spend nearly as much time with Kathryn as I would like. She's a sophomore now, and it makes me sad to think that in just two more years, we won't have our regular weekends with her anymore. She is truly my sweetheart. I couldn't love her any more if she were my very own.

I'm also tired because living in this flesh is just plain tiring. Sometimes I feel like I am running on a treadmill from sun-up to sun-down: getting a willing-or-un-willing Luke ready in the mornings; driving to work; daily morning meetings; strategizing, organizing, planning, and negotiating; lunch meetings with more of the aforementioned; managing people and dealing with their un-ending list of issues and complaints; driving home from work; getting dinner ready (or....more honestly, watching Larry get dinner ready..but that's still tiring!!); running/working out; hanging out with Luke; getting Luke a bath; taking a shower; and ending the day with a DVR'd version of whatever the daily "show" is.
Just typing out this list brings mental exhaustion as I visualize myself performing all of these activities! But did you notice something missing? I didn't include my daily date with Jesus (which usually happens first thing in the morning).

Without that "appointment", the day is draining. I most assuredly could not joyfully and energetically face the day's tasks without being first cleansed, refreshed, filled, and clothed by the Holy Spirit. I am so dependant on pouring the Truth into my mind before I even step into the shower - that I honestly could not operate as a "whole" person without my time with the Lord. I often joke that God must REALLY like to spend time with me since I'm quite a malfunctional mess without Him.

I picked the following verses for my Scripture Memory Round 7 because Paul tells the Romans (and us) that what we set our minds on affects our behavior. When I begin the day without setting my mind on His Holiness - I default to obsessing on gratifying my flesh.....and frankly, focusing on all that my flesh wants....and how my flesh can get it....is TIRING. It wears me out. What a sinner I am! Thank God this sinner is saved by His amazing grace!

So here are my memory verses! I will be clothing my mind with TRUTH before I jump out of bed in the morning; I will be focusing on all that is holy before a word comes out of my mouth; and I will step into His heavenly Presence before I have a chance to dwell on the pressures and problems of this world.

"For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.
Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].
[That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot.
So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him."

Romans 8: 5-8 (Amplified Version)

Catering to the appetites and impulses of my carnal nature has been a relentless, tyrannical, exhausting pursuit. May God help me moment by moment to live by the Spirit....and thus be filled with life (His life) and peace.

Amy