A Work In Progress

We are all a work in progress.  We didn't get to where we are overnight and we won't get to where we want to be overnight.  Sometimes progress is slow, but it is still to be considered progress.  We are always in a state of becoming.  Yes, we are called human beings, but God wants more for our lives than to simply "be". 
These 25 days of January as I am reading my Psalms and Proverbs, I am becoming more in tune with God.  In reading my five Psalms and one Proverb each day since January first, there have been numerous times God has calmed me in the midst of storms around me.   I refer to these storms in both, the  literal and physical sense.   He has done this through His Holy Word.   
You see, we have to do more than read the words, we have to meditate on them and apply their truths in our daily comings and goings in order for them to be hidden in our hearts.  To meditate is a positive activity.  To ruminate is a negative activity.  How much of your time is spent meditating on a particular truth in the Bible and how much of your time is spent ruminating on things of the past that you wish had happened differently or had not happened at all?
God's gift of time is so precious we dare not waste one precious minute of it wishing things had been different.  We can wish for the soulmate we've never met.  We can wish for more money.  We can wish for a bigger house, bigger car, bigger nest egg and the list can go on and on and on.  OR, we can simply be thankful for all we have and spend our time praising God for what He has given us.  We can ask God to help us.  We can ask God to use us for His purposes. 
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.  Then you have to be ready for what comes next.  When you say "Lord, give me patience"!  Rest assured, you are about to become involved in a very impatient situation.  We develop the Fruit of the Spirit by growing/going through the very opposite situation of the fruit in question. 
None of us, not one, is immune from the trials of life.  As I type this message, I and my family are growing/going  through the process of reconstruction in our home after a water pipe burst in our upper level on January 11th.  Our house was extensively, but not entirely, flooded.  When I came home from work,  I looked in each room to see the progress made today.  Yes, progress has been made.  I had to look closely to see it, though, because the current stage of reconstruction is focused on small details. 
That's the same way it is in our personal spiritual growth sometimes.  God sees our progress, but in our own estimation, the progress is so minimal, we can barely see any change.  God believes in us even when we have trouble believing in ourselves.  Yes, we are all human becomings.
I want to say a personal thank you for all of you who have continued to read calendar messages from the archives while I have concentrated my time and energy reading my Psalms and Proverbs this month.  Your prayers on my behalf have been answered.  Some of you have shared with me that you pray for God to continue using me to reach others.  In fact, praise God, there are those of you from Berlin, Australia, Canada, Germany, Trinidad (I love you dear lady) and states all across my beloved America who have been in the presence of God through my writings.  They are actually messages of God, by God, from God and through me to you.  To each and every one of you, I love you with a love that is pure and real.  It is by the grace of God you are reading this message.  In honor and glory of God, I write.  Praise His Holy Name! 
Thank you so very much for taking the time to visit Nan's Calendar.  Please share it with someone else so that God's Word can continue to travel across the whole wide world!  Not for my fame or glory, but for the glory of God who created us all and loves us with a love that is never ending!!