Start Right Where You Are

Proverbs 14:30
“A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.”

This is the time of year when we all look around to see what part of our lives we want to improve next. Many women are looking in the mirror at the body they want to improve. Some men are looking at their accumulation of toys to see whether they want to buy sports equipment or computer games next.

I hope there are those who are taking inventory and realize their need to improve spiritually.

Early in my marriage, I would buy a few books on how to grow up spiritually in one way or another. My husband and I went to Bible studies and prayed together to improve our life together and our life with God. Around the time we started raising kids, I stopped buying the spiritually themed self-improvement books.

It’s not that I don’t think I need to improve anymore. The growth in those early years taught me to focus not on books, but on God himself.

The books were an important part of my growth, and I’m thankful for them. But spending time with books cannot be a substitute for time with God.

And time with God is what we all need to be spending, instead of money.

My husband and I still buy those books occasionally, but we get our peaceful heart from being with God.

Every January, people walk around with the build up of December’s stress added to the guilt of having spent too much and eaten too much. January isn’t usually a peaceful month for most people. They wish they’d gotten that one game or toy that they’d asked for, but they don’t feel right about buying it for themselves. So they just sit and envy those who got what they wanted.

Do we ever envy someone’s spiritual life?

Why be envious of someone else’s walk with the Lord? Develop your own relationship with God and forsake the ways of the envious.

Start right where you are. Don’t compare your spirituality with anyone else’s. Be ready to receive what God has for you right where you are.

When you look in the mirror and see that you need to improve your body, remember that a heart at peace is how we give life to our body. And a heart at peace comes from time spent with God.