Scripture Memory Verse Week #16

Good Monday Morning!

I hope that you enjoyed a beautiful weekend as we did here in Michigan! The reason for my tardiness with this post is that I spent every available moment this weekend working out in my yard. Yes, we tried to do 4 weeks of yard work in about a day and a half...we aren't done yet, but are getting there. My quest for this summer is to have our entire yard be low maintenance so that Adrianne can take care of it with minimal time and effort while Tom and I are in Haiti. So, some of the projects are, putting new mulch in the flower beds after extensive weekend and cleaning up of said beds, weeding and turning over the huge vegetable garden area that we only just dug up last spring...it will not be planted with veggies this year, but will be covered with grass seed...removing 4 of the raised bed frames. These have been in for 5 years and the wood is rotting, and since I won't be filling them with veggies, they are going. There will be one remaining raised bed in which I will plant a few herbs, one tomato plant and one cucumber plant. I am hopeful that when we return in late August, there will be just a few things there that I can add to my salad. :)

There is more weeding, mulching and reorgnization to do, but we made quite a dent in it this past weekend, so I'm happy with the progress!

This week's verse is convicting for me, and continues in our theme of God's instructions for us:

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." Romans 12:9

We will progress further through this passage in the weeks to come, but let's just wrap our minds around loving sincerely. Hating all that is evil, and clinging to what is good. I don't know about you, but I find myself not always loving with the sincerity that I should. Sometimes I'm just "nice," but without the love that should be present. Sometimes I'm not even nice...one would be hard pressed to see evidence of love in my actions. And, of course, there's the thoughts...my Father knows that my loving thoughts leave much to be desired. 

Do I hate what is evil? A lot of the time, but then again, it depends on your definition of evil...and, my fellow princesses, once we want to debate a definition of evil, we are avoiding the core issue. Sigh. That leaves me with clinging to what is good. The very word "cling" sounds tiring to me. Have you ever had to cling to anything? It's exhausting!...Which probably explains why I don't "cling to what is good" very well -- lack of stamina.

So, sister-princess...are you ready for a couple of weeks of spiritual weight lifting and cardio with me? Because that is where we are headed! We are going to add this spiritual work out to our physical work outs and have the stamina to hate evil and cling to what is good! Who's in with me?

(by the way, the article that went with this photo said that weight lifting can help women look and feel better. I'm thinking that if we are loving sincerely, hating what is evil and clinging to what is good, we will indeed look and feel better!)

Blessings on your week and let me know how your work outs are going...

kimberly