Juggling, Forgiveness, Marriage Garden

Yesterday
Spending most of the day making 6 juggling clubs was rather relaxing, a very good different kind of activity. There were a number of hurdles to overcome, but they are complete and ready for action. I tested them all out the entire way through the building process... what fun!

I want to work on a few more of these, using the Coke bottles I already have, and Sprite bottles would also make for a beautiful club. Maybe even putting something like confetti inside the bottles would be cool. Or if I was going to want the outside completely decorated in uniform fashion, shrink-wrapping in pre-printed Tyvek would be make a solid, beautiful, and waterproof club.

Luke 5-8
Sinful woman anoints Jesus at Simon's house is one of the stories I love and struggle with ... I love it because Jesus really shows what is important, honoring him. I struggle with it because I know we are all just as sinful as the next person, but it is our perception of our sins that Jesus is really dealing with. If I know I am sinful, then forgiveness is a wonderfully amazing blessing. But if I think I am okay, then forgiveness is a little less than that, maybe it is nice, good, even wonderful, but not to the same degree.

The challenge I find here is to recognize daily how sinful and how forgiven I am. To know God is to know my sinfulness, every time I am drawn into his presence I see all my flaws. Yet, in his presence I find forgiveness and blessing beyond compare. This produces greater and greater humility, profoundly challenging my intellectual pursuit of prayer. When I sense this, I just can't say very much in prayer, all my prayer plans are out the window. I probably need to write out more of my prayers, not for show, not to put into a public place, but to train myself to receive God's blessing while giving it to others.

Power of a Praying Husband - Marriage
Sowing seeds of love, fidelity, respect, time, and communication, while removing weeds from the marriage garden will continually result in a greater harvest. In marriage, I am always harvesting and planting. It is a continuous process, it is always in season.

Two can keep warm, and a cord of three strands - Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, 12
Give preference to one another - Romans 12:10

Prayer
God reminds me to submit first to him, then to Jaime. Prefer and defer, respect and love, meek and mild.