My Prayer For You is For More Buckets!!

2007 is fast approaching and now is the time to prepare for its arrival. Are you ready for the blessings God has for you? I pray that you will have many buckets to capture each and every blessing that spills from God’s storehouse windows. This is one case when you cannot have too many buckets!

Chances are, you and I want the same things.

• To be in God’s will
• To be prosperous
• To be healthy
• To love and be loved
• To be affirmed
  
  

We want these things so badly that sometimes we can almost touch them, feel them, taste them and hold them. But so many of these things have eluded us at one time or another. Will this be the case in 2007?

My prayer for you is that if God must choose between us as to who will receive these things, that He will choose you. (See “My New Year’s Resolution” dated December 20, 2006) If one of us is to go through another year with their dreams unfulfilled, let that person will be me, not you. If only one of us will prosper in 2007, I ask God to let it be you. If He must choose between you and I as to who will find true love, then I defer to you.

May 2007 be the greatest year of your life, but not as great as the many years to come. My prayer for you today is that God will bless you beyond your expectations and that you will grow into more of what He has envisioned for you to become.

Now, go out there and get some more buckets!

Solitude Is Not For Everyone

Because of God’s grace, there are some things He keeps us from having to go through that we are not able to handle. We may think we are as bad as we wanna be and nothing can get the best of us, but most of us are smart enough to know that we are not “all that”. We may never admit it, but there are some challenges or fears or people or whatever that we are no match for. Thank God for His keeping power!

I think solitude is one of those things that some people cannot handle. For those people, they would rather go to the dentist than have to deal with being alone. For these people, they will do all kinds of things to avoid the “curse” of being alone including staying in bad relationships, getting together with old boyfriends or girlfriends who they know are not good for them, wandering aimlessly around public places like the mall or clubs or joining organizations to just be around other people. Hey whatever works!

For me, I spend a lot of time by myself. I admit that it is not always something I voluntarily do, but that is the way things are for me. It’s kind of funny at times that people will not believe me when I say that I spend what I think are inordinate portions of my weekends and holidays alone. They assume that everybody has other people in their lives, but for me that has not been the case for quite some time.

Because I spend a lot of time alone, I spend much time thinking about me or more specifically, what things about me I should change or work on. I also think about what few special relationships I have and those other relationships that showed promised but never really materialized. As a writer, spending time alone has helped me to finish one more chapter, write one more essay and do more research. I thank God that although I am alone and I sometimes feel lonely (there is a difference!), I am able to stay focused on Him and on those things He wants me to do.

No, solitude is not for everyone. If that is not your struggle, then praise God. I pray that you will cherish the relationships you have with family, friends and romantic partners that keep you from being by yourself. If you struggle with solitude, my prayer is that God will help you rise above its clutches.

For all of us Christian singles, we should do what we can to help our fellow singles make it through their times of solitude. All it may take is a short email or a quick call or a genuine hug of affection or a little card sent through the mail to let someone know that they are not really secluded and that you care.

Solitude is not for everyone, but being a genuine friend can be.