Tuesday, December 13, 2011

SURRENDER!


All to Jesus I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

            Early this morning while doing my "wake up the spine" yoga sequence, I kept hearing the word SURRENDER. Surrender your breath. Surrender to the pose. SURRENDER YOUR TENSION.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.

       Later on in the morning, I met with my precious prayer group before school. We attempt to meet every Tuesday to pray. It is such a valuable time. As we are sharing our prayer request, I share that I need an attitude adjustment. One of the ladies quickly agreed with me and said she could benefit from one as well. She then precedes to suggest that we just Praise Him during our prayer.  What power there is in praise!

All to Jesus I surrender;
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

            My therapist (yes I have a therapist) says I'm incredibly hard on myself. She suggests that I not say things to myself that I wouldn't say to one of my students. ( I tried several times to write this without double negatives but had no success.) I continue to struggle with this. I have always been very goal-oriented. Thus, my frustration...I have a bagillion goals to accomplish within a 24-hour period. Eight of those hours MUST be spent sleeping or I ain't no fun to be around. Therefore, I am left with 16 hours to accomplish my many feats I have set out for myself.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power;
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

       I surrender all, I surrender all; All to thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all. I surrender the to-do list. I surrender the to-don't list. I surrender the I can't list. I surrender the this sucks list. I surrender the woe-is-me list. I surrender the I want this list. I surrender the do better at list. I surrender the must be done today list. I surrender the this is what I didn't get done yesterday list. I SURRENDER ALL!

All to Jesus I surrender;
Now I feel the sacred flame.
Oh, the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory, to His Name!


Sunday, December 11, 2011

"A life lived in fear is a life half-lived. "


Rainey Days is the name of my bar I have dreamed of opening for many years. So, I figure a blog is the next best thing. All the design elements for Rainey Days are drawn out on a napkin and live in my top-desk drawer. However, fear and finances (or fear of finances) have left me in my secure position of teaching. Don't get me wrong, I love my job. There aren't many professions where you get to laugh and learn with America's future everyday. Not so long ago, I used to be fearless. I would go and do without much planning. That "doing" mentality has been replaced with a "thinking about it" mentality. Lately, I've been stuck in a rut. I am an out-spoken, inquisitive almost 30 year old; who has found myself to be lazy for the first time in my life. That laziness is really stressing me out, thus the reason for this blog...accountability. I have so much that I want to do and experience in my life, but am lacking the drive to accomplish any of it. I have noticed myself truly aging this year, and it really bothers me. Endless energy used to be my speciality. Now, however, I love my couch, TV, and sleep. I have gotten really good at talking myself out of anything. Perhaps, there is a link between the laziness and lack of energy. I am going to take some advice from a really cool guy...the toy department manager at Gimbles in ELF..."Make work your favorite, works your new favorite!"